Built at the behest of Nicolao Ruiu Manca in 1679, it was initially run by the Jesuits and then by the Mercedarians. It was once surrounded by arcades and cumbessias (temporary houses for the faithful participating in the novena). The church has a simple structure with a barrel vault and a square presbytery. The façade, closed by two buttresses, is flanked on the right by a bell-gable. On the portal, surmounted by an architraved tympanum, we find a 14th-century Gothic style rose window made of pink trachyte. Tradition has it that it belonged to the Church of St. Julian the Martyr, the first Christian building in Nuoro, of which there is no architectural evidence. The interior contains an 18th-century cycle of wall paintings with the figures of the twelve Apostles, prophets and cartouches. The frescoes were painted by the well-known workshop of Pietro Antonio and Gregorio Are, known for having painted the interior of numerous churches in central Sardinia. The statue of the Madonna to whom the festival is dedicated is kept in the modern church in Via Lamarmora, one of Sardinia’s most worshipped sanctuaries.