Anela, Church of Santa Maria di Mesumundu

Anela, Church of Santa Maria di Mesumundu. Photo by Costantina Tuveri, 1996, from Catalogo BBCC RAS

The town of Anela is located in a mountainous area, 450 m above sea level. Its territory is bordered by the Tirso river and by a series of smaller watercourses, which make the land particularly fertile. The church is isolated on a country site.
The church of Santa Maria di Anela is part of the panorama of “minor” Romanesque architecture, but it is not without interest because of its organic insertion into the landscape. Like the church of San Saturnino di Usolvisi in the countryside of Bultei, it was donated to the Camaldolese monks by the bishop of Castra in 1163. The single-vaulted church is made of well-squared ashlars of clear sedimentary stone. The façade was rebuilt later, while the sides and the apse can be traced back to the Romanesque factory. In the sides, there are three single-light windows with a smooth, slightly arched thrombus; one opens into the apse oriented to N/E. On the side d. there is an arched portal surmounted by an exhaust arch with a raised and molded sixth.

History of studies
For the town and the church of Anella, see the entry 'Sassari' by Vittorio Angius, included in the 'Dictionary' by Goffredo Casalis (1849), and the work of Giovanni Ortu (1970). On the diocese of Castro, to which Anela belonged, consult the volume by Francesco Amadu (1984). The 1990 work by Ginevra Zanetti, which frames the church of Santa Maria among the Sardinian buildings that belonged to the Camaldolese order, while in 1993 it was the summary sheet in Roberto Coroneo's volume on Romanesque architecture, which places the monument in the second half of the 12th century.

Bibliography
V. Angius, ''Sassari'', in G. Casalis Dizionario geografico storico-statistico-commerciale degli Stati di S.M. il Re di Sardegna, XVIII, Torino, G. Maspero, 1849, p. 324, n. 5;
G. Ortu, Anela: ambiente, uomini, fatti, Ozieri, Voce del Logudoro, 1970, pp. 29-35;
G. Zanetti, I Camaldolesi in Sardegna, Cagliari, Fossataro, 1974, pp. 125-129;F. Amadu, La diocesi medioevale di Castro, Ozieri, Il Torchietto, 1984, pp. 19-24;
T. Oppes, Il Goceano, Cagliari, Edisar, 1990;
R. Coroneo, Architettura romanica dalla metà del Mille al primo '300, Nuoro, Ilisso, 1993, scheda 48;
R. Coroneo, Chiese romaniche della Sardegna. Itinerari turistico-culturali, Cagliari, AV, 2005, pp. 62-63.

How to get there
Leave the SS 131 at Macomer and take the 129 road for about 15 km. Then turn to the S. to take the 128 bis. After a few kilometers you will reach Anela. Just past the town, in the direction of Bultei, is the church of Santa Maria, known as Our Lady of Mesumundu or Our Lady of the Roses.