Solarussa, Church of San Gregorio

The area on which the church of San Gregorio stands has been anthropized since the Nuragic age. The floor and a tub, perhaps of a thermal building, date back to the early Roman period. A second type of paved brick belongs to the Romanesque church and is preceded by the founding structures of an early medieval church.
The church dedicated to the holy pontiff Gregory the Great is an example of “minor” Romanesque architecture but no less significant, as it is characterized by an appreciable, extreme construction simplicity and an accurate stone cutting technique.
Inside, below the decking, the perimeter of a mononave room with an S/E apse, dating back to the early medieval age, has been found.
The toponym Solagrussa/Solarossa is mentioned in two undated acts of the “Condaghe di Santa Maria di Bonarcado” (12th-13th century), but the Romanesque church of San Gregorio can be dated only by means of the formal characters, which suggest that it was ascribed to the second half of the 12th century. The nudity of the vestments, combined with the perfect stereometric technique, reveals the probable intervention of active workers during the planting phase of the church of Santa Maria di Bonarcado (1110-1146/47).
The plan is longitudinal with an E-shaped apse. The façade is characterized by the portal, of the architraved and lunette type with a round ribbed raised from an ashlar. Nothing is granted to the sculptural decoration: the only decorative element is represented by the bichromia of the bezel made by alternating dark basalt ashlars with light vulcanite ashlars.
At the top of the façade there is a canton worked to house a polychrome ceramic basin, which must have stood out quite a bit on the dark texture of the basalt wall. Along the S side, almost close to the façade, the second portal opens, also of the architraved type and lunette with a raised round corner of an ashlar. The apse is made of dark vulcanite ashlars that are on average larger than those used for the façade.

History of studies
The church was studied in the second half of the last century by Renata Serra and Roberto Coroneo, with a formal reading and historical framework in the 12th century. As far as restorations are concerned, the file by Alfredo Ingegno, Donatella Mureddu and Grete Stefani should be noted.

Bibliography
V. Angius, “Solarussa”, in G. Casalis, Historical-Statistical-Commercial Geographical Dictionary of the States by H.M. the King of Sardinia, XX, Turin, G. Maspero, 1850, pp. 248-255;
F. Cherchi Paba, Solarussa and Il Campidano Maggiore, Cagliari, 3T, 1978, pp. 16-18;
“Three examples of restoration work: Solarussa, church of San Gregorio; Villanova Truschedu, church of San Gemiliano; Zerfaliu, church of San Giovanni Battista”, cards by A. Ingegno-D. Mureddu-G. Stefani, in Nurachi. Story of an Ecclesia, Oristano, S'Alvure, 1985, pp. 101-109;
R. Serra, La Sardegna, series “Romanesque Italy”, Milan, Jaca Book, 1989, pp. 373-374; R. Coroneo, Romanesque Architecture from the Mid Thousand to the Early '300, Nuoro, Ilisso, 1993, sheet 25;
R. Coroneo-R. Serra, Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque Sardinia, series “Italian Artistic Heritage”, Milan, Jaca Book, 2004, pp. 268-269; R. Coroneo, Romanesque Churches of Sardinia. Tourist-cultural itineraries, Cagliari, AV, 2005, p. 78.

How to get there
You leave the SS 131 at the height of Silì, to turn to d. on the SS 388 in the direction of Simaxis. After a few kilometers, turn south on SP 15 to Solarussa. The church of San Gregorio Magno is located just outside the town, within a fence in a country site, and is preceded by a large portal surmounted by a sailing bell tower.