Holy Place, Palace of Baldu

The site is surrounded by greenery, in the town of Santu Stevanu.
Archaeological investigations have made it possible to identify three main units: the building complex that includes the so-called Palazzo di Baldu and the buildings pertaining to it; the church of Santo Stefano; the furnace.
The largest nucleus (about 1600 square meters) consists of 16 rectangular rooms that form a pentagonal enclosure around a large courtyard (about 780 square meters), towards which the entrances were facing.
The S/E part of the inner square is occupied by the quadrilateral building (9.20 m per side), whose perimeter walls are preserved for about 10 m high, originally divided into three floors and equipped with a terrace, equipped with an external staircase to reach the main entrance and a shoe base. The construction technique with which it was built indicates considerable construction skill and recall the Romanesque granite churches of Gallura and Corsica.
The excavation of the small circular building, located about 25 m S of the church of Santo Stefano, has returned a furnace, used for cooking clay material. The structure, about 3 m in diameter, is made of small granite stones and, in some parts, with bricks. Numerous processing waste, especially tiles ruined by poor cooking, have been found near the artisanal plant.
The analysis of the artifacts has made it possible to ascertain the importation of ceramic products from different areas of the Mediterranean basin. In addition to ceramic objects made locally or in a regional context, stratigraphy has returned artifacts produced in Tuscany, Liguria, Spain and Western Islam between the 12th and 15th centuries.
The finds provide useful information to trace the function of the various rooms of the block: for example, in a room in the N/E zone, there was a strong concentration of iron nails and awls; on the other hand, the adjacent environment, directly connected to the outside of the complex, has returned brackets and harnesses for horses. In other buildings, there were objects such as decorated vitreous lamps, which could indicate a high social status for the owners of the residence.

History of studies
In 1999, during consolidation and archaeological excavation (scientific direction by Daniela Rovina and assistance by Andrea Coletti), three rooms in E of the ruins of the tower called “Palazzo di Baldu” came to light. In the periods June-November 2001 and June-September 2002, excavation campaigns were carried out by the Archaeological Superintendence for the provinces of Sassari and Nuoro (scientific direction by Angela Antona and assistance by Fabio Pinna).

Bibliography
F. Pinna, “A medieval village in the heart of Gallura”, in Gallurese Almanacco, 10, 2002-03, pp. 77-84;
F. Pinna, “Holy Place, archaeological excavations in the area of the Palazzo di Baldu”, in Aristeo, I, 2004, pp. 319-321; F. Pinna, “Spatial organization and commercial relations of a medieval town in Gallura.
Note on archaeological excavations in the area of the Palace of Baldu (Holy Place)”, in Actes du 128e Congrés du CTHS. Relations, échanges, et coopération en Méditerranée, Études Corses, 60, septembre 2005, pp. 85-103; G. Serreli, All the Castles of the Four Kingdoms, “Darwin.
Notebooks”, n. 1 (July-August 2006), pp. 104-109.