Holy Place, Church of San Leonardo

The church of San Leonardo, which gave its name to the hill, is located a few meters W of the military facilities of the Balaiana Castle.
The church of San Leonardo was used as a chapel for the castle of Balaiana and is one of the smallest Romanesque buildings on the island. The reasons for interest lie in the organic and spectacular insertion into the Gallura landscape, and in the building material, granite, used between the 11th and 13th centuries in only a few Romanesque churches in northeastern Sardinia.
Its construction dates back to the 12th century. The architectural structure is very simple: a single-aisle room with a barrel vaulted shape, a semicircular apse on which the basin rests. The entrance is located in one of the sides of the church, the S one, accompanied by a very narrow window; another window is located in the center of the apse, perfectly oriented, while a cruciform opening is located in the upper part of the façade O. A wall is placed to protect the W side of the building, entirely made of granite, with a gable roof made of shale slabs. The construction technique consists of a series of horizontal rows of blocks smaller than those used for the castle and less worked.

History of studies
For the history of Luogosanto, reference can be made to some studies, including that of Antonio Murineddu, in 1962, and the most recent one by Mario Scampuddu, in 1996. For the castle, refer to the contribution in Foiso Fois's volume “Castles of Medieval Sardinia”, from 1992. For the church of San Leonardo, see the fact sheet in Roberto Coroneo's volume on Romanesque architecture in Sardinia (1993).

Bibliography
V. Angius, “Gallura”, in G. Casalis Historical, Statistical and Commercial Geographical Dictionary of the States by S. M. the King of Sardinia, VII, Turin, G. Maspero, 1840, pp. 41-196;
A. Murineddu, “Holy Place”, in Gallura: historical, geographical and economic aspects, edited by A. Murineddu, Cagliari, Fossataro, 1962, pp. 244-252;
F. Fois, Castles of Medieval Sardinia, edited by B. Fois, Cinisello Balsamo, Silvana, 1992, pp. 188-189; M. Scampuddu, Pays di Gallura: Holy Place:
history and images, Sassari, EDES, 1996;
R. Coroneo, Romanesque Architecture from the mid-1000 to the early '300, Nuoro, Ilisso, 1993, sheet 62;
R. Coroneo, Romanesque Churches of Sardegna. tourist-cultural itineraries, Cagliari, AV, 2005, pp. 36-37.

How to get there
To reach Luogosanto, take the SS 133 from Tempio Pausania to Palau. At km 22 there is the junction for the town, reachable after a few kilometers. After passing the town, you will find the hill of San Leonardo, on which stands the homonymous church, the chapel of the castle of Balaiana, whose ruins are preserved a short distance away.