Nuxis, Church of Sant'Elia di Tattinu

The church of Sant'Elia rises above the valley crossed by the Tattinu River. The area, anthropized since prehistoric times, was inhabited even in the Nuragic age, as evidenced by a village and a sacred well. The subsequent Roman presence left building structures now in a state of ruin. The structure of the church in the Byzantine era is connected to settlements linked to the exploitation of mineral resources.
To appreciate the church of Sant'Elia di Tattinu in its original forms, it is necessary to resort to old black and white photographs, since the modern restoration has changed the details of the building, clearly attributable to the cruciform architecture of Byzantine Sardinia.
The plant walls had to be characterized by the use of square ashlars at the corners of the building, while the inlays had to be made of smaller mixed stone.
The plant is cruciform with equal arms surmounted at the crossing point by a quadrangular tiburium surmounted by what appears to be the highest part of a very elongated, almost ovival dome, completely plastered as well as the tiburium.
In the façade, surmounted by a sailing bell tower, the main portal opens, like a monolithic lintel enclosing on the perimeter walls. The four arms are barrel-vaulted and externally covered by sloping roofs with tiles. At the intersection of the arms, the dome rises, set on rudimentary scuffie. The current dome is modern since the original collapsed in 1909. Even the O arm, reconstructed shorter than the original, is not original.

History of studies
The church, practically unknown before the sixties of the last century, was published by Renata Serra, who included it in the group of small cruciform buildings in Byzantine Sardinia.

Bibliography
R. Serra, “The quadrified church of Sant'Elia a Nuxis (and several other early medieval documents in Sardinia)”, in Studi Sardi, XXI, 1968-70, pp. 30-61; R. Coroneo-M. Coppola, Byzantine cruciform churches of Sardinia, Cagliari, 1999, pp. 35-36; R. Coroneo-R. Serra, Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque Sardinia, series “Italian artistic heritage”, Milan, Jaca Book, 2004, pp. 69-70; R. Coroneo, Romanesque Churches of Sardinia. Tourist-cultural itineraries, Cagliari, AV, 2005, pp. 103.

How to get there

Take the SS 130 towards Iglesias and take the SP 2 and then the SS 293 to the town of Nuxis. Beyond the village, there are tourist signs on the S. that indicate the rural site of Sant'Elia di Tattinu, a destination for pilgrimages. The last stretch, paved with pebbles, leads to the church.