Gonnostramatza, Church of San Michele Arcangelo

The town of Gonnostramatza is included in the territory of Marmilla, a region located in south-central Sardinia, rich in archaeological evidence. The parish church of San Michele Arcangelo, located in the town, overlooks a square. Next to the bell tower is the modern oratory.
In medieval times, the center belonged to the Giudicato di Arborea and was included in the curatorship of Montis, of which it was the capital, before the villa of Mogoro became it.
The church of San Michele Arcangelo, as it appears today, is the result of a post-World War II intervention that substantially modified it. According to documentary sources, the building was built between 1680 and 1715 (the first contract was dated 19 June 1665), but the oldest evidence dates back to 1524. In fact, it was built on top of a previous sixteenth-century church, of which only the late Gothic apse with a cross vault set on decorated hanging stones remains, with the gemstone of serraglia in the center. In 1954, after the demolition of the one in 1684, the new façade was built.
In 1752, the bell tower began to be built; throughout the year and for the following, there was an incessant transport of stones to the square of the church, where the Cagliari masons master Efisio Mura and master Antioco Serpi built the tower. In 1757-58, a third bricklayer, master Antioco Litera, also worked at the factory. A short time later, a public clock was thought of, for which a small bell tower was specially erected. When, in 1760, a 'carradore' from San Sperate brought the new clock from Cagliari to Gonnostramatza, a bell was placed in the bell tower. In 1899, because it threatened to collapse, the small structure was demolished.
The plan of the church is a classroom with three chapels on each side, of which the two near the presbytery, decidedly the most pronounced, form a sort of transept, from whose right arm you can access the quadrangular sacristy, which communicates with the apse.
The gabled façade, very high and included in corner piles, is based on a high plinth. The wall is punctuated by rows of alternately recessed large monolithic slabs, which create an effect of chiarouro. Along the sloping terminals, there is an ascending theory of hanging arches, resting on shelled legs. With the wooden portal, inserted in a round rounded frame, a large three-light window is in line, also arranged in a round frame. This window, with small columns equipped with bases and capitals, has a median light that is higher and wider than the two sides. The apse is quadrangular.
Aligned to the left of the main façade is a square-barrel bell tower, resting on a high plinth. The tower, enclosed in square ashlar corner piles, is divided into three orders by frames. The first order has elongated smooth mirrors, while the second has a curved monophore on each side, inserted in a smooth mirror crowned by hanging arches with a double ring, resting on feet. In the third order, small in size and without pilasters, with a smooth plastered surface, the circular clock is placed within a frame. The hemispherical dome is placed on this compartment, divided into segments and covered with colored tiles. At the corners of the frames that conclude the last two orders, small acrotera rise up.

Bibliography
V. Angius, entry “Gonnos-tramatza”, in G. Casalis, Historical, Statistical and Commercial Geographical Dictionary of the States by H.M. the King of Sardinia, VIII, Turin, G. Maspero, 1841; The Province of Cagliari.
The municipalities, edited by N. Sciannameo - F. Sardi, Cinisello Balsamo, Silvana, 1985 (2nd ed.); S. Tomasi, Diocese of Ales-Terralba.
Memories of the Past, II, Villacidro, Cartabianca, 1997;
S. Mele, Country Sheets, Works Sheets, in Dentro la Marmilla. Environment, History, Culture, Lunamatrona, Sa Corona Arrubia, 2000;
A. Pillittu, Diocese of Ales-Terralba, series “Churches and Sacred Art in Sardinia”, Cagliari, Zonza, 2001.