Tuili, Church of San Pietro

The town of Tuili is located at the foot of the Giara di Gesturi, one of the most suggestive areas of Sardinia, rich in archaeological evidence. In the upper part of the town, to the west of the town, there is the church dedicated to Saint Peter the Apostle. It stands on a large square, in front of the nineteenth-century Asquer building.
In medieval times, the “villa”, included in the court of Arborea, was part of the curatorship of Marmilla and was dependent on the diocese of Usellus (Ales). In 1481, with the Feud of the Holy Creus, an important phase in its history began for the town.
The church of San Pietro was consecrated in 1489. Only the third chapel on the left remains of this ancient structure, which is accessed by an ovival arch with capitals decorated with a phytomorphic motif, which has a stellar vault with pendulous gems.
The plan of the church has a single-aisle room, with three chapels on each side. The aisle and all the chapels have been blown away, except for the third one on the left. Adjacent to this last chapel is a small room. From the third chapel on the right, which is actually an access area to the building, we pass to the sacristy, which has a rectangular plan.
The façade, facing west, has a wall wall made of rows of square gray ashlars; about two-thirds of its height and along the right edge, ashlars of different colors are inserted. The upper part, once with exposed stones, has been plastered since 1884. The portal, surmounted by an architrave, has an arch described by ashlars of various colors. In line with the portal, a curved window opens, on the sides of which there are two other rectangular lights. The prospectus ends at the top with a crowning doubly inflicted as a 'carabiniere's hat'. The nuisance shows decorative elements in stone with a spiraliform pattern; at the top there is a concave in which a mask is sculpted, on top of which a lithic cross is grafted. The sides of the church are supported by buttresses, four on the left side and three on the right; the latter side houses a portal. The apsidal part, based on a high plinth, has a yellow plastered wall, like the rest of the building, except for the façade. On the back wall of the presbytery, there are three windows, the same as those on the main façade. This prospectus is also concluded by the manneristic doubly inflected crowning. Aligned with the apse is the sacristy, in which a small oval window opens.
On the left side of the façade is the square-barreled bell tower, divided into four orders separated by frames. The first shows, inside the corners with exposed stones, plastered and smooth mirrors. The second has a rounded corner on each of the faces, while in the third, single-light windows open with a round curtain, from which you can see the bells; in this third order there is also the clock, placed at the bottom of one of the single-light windows. The last order, smaller in size, has an octagonal plan, with the edges of the faces in exposed stones, as in the rest of the structure; on the faces, alternately, there are single-light windows and niches. The hemispherical dome is placed on this compartment, divided into segments and covered with colored pellet tiles.

History of studies
News about the church of San Pietro can be found in various publications related to Marmilla.

Bibliography
V. Angius, entry “Gonnos-tramatza”, in G. Casalis, Historical and Statistic-Commercial Geographical Dictionary of the States of His Excellency the King of Sardinia, XXIII, Turin, G. Maspero, 1853;
A. Pillittu, “Diocese of Ales-Terralba”, series of Churches and Sacred Art in Sardinia, Cagliari, Zonza, 2001.

How to get there
From Cagliari, take the SS 131. After crossing Monastir, turn right. After about 40 km, turn right onto the SS 197. You pass near Furtei and cross Villamar, Las Plassas and Barumini. Then you take the SP 44 and you arrive at Tuili.