Tratalias, Church of Santa Maria and Museum of the Territory

The church of Santa Maria, together with the surrounding medieval village, constitute the complex area of the Museum of the Territory of Tratalias. The church, incorporated into the ancient village, stands impressively among the houses of modest height and small size, now partly restored and converted to uses more suited to tourist needs.
Santa Maria di Tratalias, once a cathedral, represents one of the most intact and therefore important buildings in the Sardinian Romanesque landscape.
Its history is linked to the events of the diocese of Sulcis, of which Tratalias was the seat within 1218 after Sant'Antioco, following the depopulation of the coastal site, and before the transfer to Iglesias in 1503. After the fall of the magistrate of Cagliari in 1258, the “villa” of Tratalias passed to the Pisan family of the Lords of Gherardesca, who maintained its ownership, as a fief granted by the Catalan-Aragonese rulers, even after 1324.
Two inscriptions (1213 and 1282) mark the beginning and end of the construction of the cathedral: the first is inside the apse and the second refers to the disappeared pulpit, formerly leaning against the third pillar on the left.
The church (30 x 13 m high, about 12 m high), made of local sedimentary and volcanic stone, has three naves divided by round arches set on quadrangular pillars shaped at the corners. The apse is N/O. The roof is wooden.
The façade is divided into two orders. The first is divided into three mirrors: the sides are smooth, with the exception of the presence of two diamonds carved in the negative, while the central one is occupied by the portal, with jambs that hold an lintel and a round drain arch concluded by an eyebrow carved with plant motifs. The pattern is repeated in the side portals: the N one stands out for the pointed exhaust arch and especially for the lintel in which two lions face in relief stand out. The second order of the façade has only one mirror in which the lobed rosette opens. The façade is concluded by a pediment with a staircase.
In both orders there are arches on feet with plant subjects, also present in the lateral and apsidal elevations. These in turn reproduce, through the use of pilasters, the same division into mirrors. A smooth pediment pierced by a cross-shaped light concludes the apse.
Upon entering the room, two epigraphs are walled up in the counterfaçade, one of which bears the name of Guantino Cavallino. A sixteenth-century pictorial triptych hangs in the navatella N.

History of excavations
Reported since the 19th century by Giovanni Spano, the church was also the subject of research during the 20th century, engaging Dionigi Scano, Raffaello Delogu, Renata Serra and Roberto Coroneo in in-depth studies that clarify its historical and artistic aspects.

Bibliography
D. Scano, History of Art in Sardinia from the 11th to the 14th Century, Cagliari-Sassari, Montorsi, 1907, pp. 141-152;
R. Delogu, The Architecture of the Middle Ages in Sardinia, Rome, The State Library, 1953, pp. 171-173; R. Serra, Sardinia, series “Romanesque Italy”, Milan, Jaca Book, 1989, pp. 78-100;
R. Coroneo, Romanesque Architecture from the Mid Thousand to the Early '300, Nuoro, Ilisso, 1993, sheet 93;
R. Coroneo-R. Serra, Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque Sardinia, series “Italian Artistic Heritage”, Milan, Jaca Book, 2004, pp. 287-291; R. Coroneo, Romanesque Churches of Sardinia. Cultural tourist itineraries, Cagliari, AV, 2005, p. 104.

How to get there
Take the SS 130 from Cagliari, turn to Villamassargia in the direction of Carbonia and continue to San Giovanni Suergiu, after which, after a few kilometers, turn south and continue to the old town of Tratalias where the former cathedral of Santa Maria stands in Piazza Chiesa.

Tag

Structure category: Monument or Monumental Complex

Content type: Religious architecture

Usability: Open

Province: Sud Sardegna

Common: Tratalias

Macro Territorial Area: South Sardinia

POSTAL CODE: 09010

Address: piazza Chiesa, s.n.c. - località Vecchia Tratalias

Telephone: +39 0781 688046

E-mail: stagecoop@tiscali.it ufficioturistico.tra@tiscali.it ufficioturistico@comune.tratalias.ca.it

Facebook: www.facebook.com/trataliasturismo

October - March

Tuesday - Wednesday - Thursday - Friday - Saturday - Sunday

9:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Tuesday - Wednesday - Thursday - Friday - Saturday - Sunday

3:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Information on tickets and access: It is advisable to contact the tourist information office of the municipality of Tratalias in advance for updated information on services and access times at the numbers +39 0781 688046 or by email. For large groups, the management can provide accommodation assistance and services, upon advance booking, even outside defined hours.

Access mode: For a fee

Tickets :

Integer : 5 €, 17 to 65 years old, .

Reduced : 2.5 €, minors from 10 to 17 years old, adults over 66 years old, groups over 20 people, school classes of all levels, .

Freeware : 0 €, disabled people and carers, guides and tour guides, teachers accompanying school classes, minors up to 9 years old accompanied by their parents, scholars authorized by: Superintendencies, local authorities and state authorities, for everyone in case of special openings for particular events after public communication, .

Services information: At the reception center of the "Medieval Village of Tratalias" the guided tour service is carried out for groups in three stages: 09:00 - 10:45 - 12:00; which can be booked from early morning.

Update

4/12/2023 - 10:39

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