Bosa, St. Peter's Basilica Extra Muros

The church is located in the rural town of Calamedia, on the south bank of the Temple. The site has been inhabited since Phoenician-Punic and Roman times. During the judicial age, it was the seat of the diocese of Bosa, suppressed at the beginning of the 16th century. The church of San Pietro served as a cathedral, before being located outside the walls of the new town, built at the foot of the castle of Serravalle, and was replaced by the current cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
The church, dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, is one of the oldest Romanesque churches in Sardinia. Its original physiognomy was unfortunately compromised by the restorations of 1938, with the replacement of most of the building stones. The inscription of Costantino de Castra, kept inside the church, transmits the memory of the beginning of the factory in the second half of the eleventh century.
The latter, of significant dimensions (36 x 13 m, about 13 m high), is built in volcanic stone ashlars, with a room with three naves and an E-shaped apse. The middle aisle is covered with a wooden roof, while the side aisles are cross-shaped. The seven dividers consist of arches that are set on rectangular pillars.
Of the oldest part, only the middle part of the room remains, dating back to the eleventh century. The next building phase involved the reconstruction of the apse in the 12th century. The façade, built at the beginning of the 13th century, has three large pointed arches. The central arch contains the portal, with an lintel delimited at the top by a torciglione and sculpted like a fake loggia, whose arcatelles house trees and Saints Peter and Paul on the sides of the Virgin and Child.
Along the sloping slopes, intertwined arches follow one another. At the top, in line with the portal and the oculus, there is a newsstand with columns intertwined in a knot. The intertwined arches and the newsstand with columns intertwined in a knot are found only in another Romanesque building in Sardinia, San Pietro di Zuri (1291). Therefore, the reconstruction of the upper part of the façade of San Pietro di Bosa, was also assigned to the same architect, Anselmo da Como, at the end of the 13th century.

History of Studies
Alberto Della Marmora (1860) mentions the church in his “Itinerary”. Dionigi Scano (1907) undertook the historical-artistic study, deepened by Raffaello Delogu (1953). New reading tracks come from Attilio Mastino (1978) also with the support of the inscriptions that allow dating. The most recent contributions are by Renata Serra (1989) and Roberto Coroneo (1993).

Bibliography
D. Scano, History of Art in Sardinia from the 11th to the 14th Century, Cagliari-Sassari, Montorsi, 1907, pp. 342-343;
P. Toesca, The Middle Ages, Turin, UTET, 1927, p. 685;
R. Delogu, The Architecture of the Middle Ages in Sardinia, Rome, The State Library, 1953, pp. 72-73;
A. Mastino, “The Church of San Pietro di Bosa in the Light of Epigraphic Documentation”, in The Churches of Bosa, Cagliari, Artisan Publishing Typography, 1978, pp. 9-97; R. Serra, Sardinia, series “Romanesque Italy”, Milan, Jaca Book, 1989, pp. 226-232;
R. Coroneo, Romanesque Architecture from the Mid Thousand to the Early '300, Nuoro, Ilisso, 1993, sheet 146; R. Coroneo-R. Serra, Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque Sardinia, series “Italian Artistic Heritage”, Milan, Jaca Book, 2004, pp. 295-299; R. Coroneo, Romanesque Churches of Sardinia.
Cultural tourist itineraries, Cagliari, AV, 2005, pp. pp. 58-59.

How to get
There From the center of Bosa, cross the main bridge over the Temo, the Ponte Vecchio. Turn left in the homonymous Via di San Pietro, after about 1 and a half km you will reach the basilica visible on the left side of theroad.

Tag

Structure category: Monument or Monumental Complex

Content type: Religious architecture

Usability: Open

Province: Oristano

Common: Bosa

Macro Territorial Area: Central Sardinia

POSTAL CODE: 09089

Address: via San Pietro, s.n.c.

Telephone: +39 0785 373286 +39 340 3955048 +39 329 8505079

E-mail: info@castellodibosa.it

Website: http://www.castellodibosa.com/castellodibosa/orari-e-tariffe-monumenti/chiesa-di-san-pietro.html

April - Maggio

Tuesday - Thursday - Saturday

9:30 AM - 12:00 PM

Wednesday - Friday - Sunday

3:30 PM - 5:00 PM

June - August

Tuesday - Wednesday - Thursday - Friday - Saturday - Sunday

9:30 AM - 12:00 PM

Tuesday - Wednesday - Thursday - Friday - Saturday - Sunday

4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

September - October

Tuesday - Thursday - Saturday

9:30 AM - 12:00 PM

Wednesday - Friday - Sunday

3:30 PM - 5:00 PM

Special openings:

Information on tickets and access: It is possible to visit the church outside opening hours by reservation. During the autumn and winter months, it is possible to visit the monument every day, for groups of at least 20 people, by reservation by calling the following numbers: +39 340 39 55 048 or +39 329 85 05 079 or by sending an e-mail to: info@castellodibosa.it. To check for any changes in opening hours, you can consult the dedicated page of the operator's website.

Access mode: For a fee

Tickets :