Uta, Church of Santa Maria

Uta, Church of Santa Maria. Photo by Alberto Maisto, 2009, from Sardegna Digital Library

The building is inside a fenced area that includes a cemetery and a well that is no longer in use. Favored by its isolation in the middle of the fields, although not too far from the village, its position is slightly higher compared to the surrounding terrain.
Thanks to the purity of its architectural forms, Santa Maria di Uta is a monument capable of exerting a great attraction.
Due to the lack of documentary sources informing about the precise date, the structure is located in the second half of the 12th century, also due to the comparison with the dated church of Santa Maria di Tratalias (1213-82), which shows formal similarities. The first attestation dates back to 1363, in a document in which the Catalan-Aragonese ruler Peter IV indicated that it belonged to the Jerosolimitan Hospitallers, granting it to the Knights of the Order of Saint George of Alfama.
The church (22 x 10 m, about 10 m high) is made of sedimentary stone. Rebuilt on a previous binave, it has three naves divided by round arches that are set on columns with phytomorphic capitals parallel to the church, except for the third on the left entering the hall, which dates back to the Roman era. Equally Roman is the capital reused as a holy water fountain. The apse is oriented to E. The naves have a wooden roof.
The façade is divided into two orders. The lower one consists of three mirrors, the central one of which houses the arched portal, with an eyebrow draining arch, decorated in interweaves and set on two floors with lions. It ends with archetti su peducci. At the top of the portal's drainage arch, there is a frame decorated with lilies.
The second order houses a mirror concluded at the top by arches and includes the pediment with a double window. At the top of the façade there is a sailing bell tower, added later on. On the sides, the decorative apparatus, varied and well preserved, documents the tendency to express even in sculpture the messages displayed by priests on pulpits, making their contents more accessible in an era of predominant illiteracy.

History of studies
Reported since the 19th century by Giovanni Spano, the church was also the subject of research during the 20th century, involving Dionigi Scano, Raffaello Delogu, Maria Freddi, Renata Serra, Roberto Coroneo and Anna Pistuddi in in-depth studies that clarify its historical and artistic aspects. Of particular interest is the archaeological investigation by Osvaldo Lilliu.

Bibliography
D. Scano, Storia dell'arte in Sardegna dal XI al XIV secolo, Cagliari-Sassari, Montorsi, 1907, pp. 153-156;
R. Delogu, L'architettura del Medioevo in Sardegna, Roma, La Libreria dello Stato, 1953, pp. 62-66;
M. Freddi, La chiesa di S.ta Maria di Uta. Rilievo architettonico e commento storico, Roma, 1954;
R. Serra, La Sardegna, collana "Italia romanica", Milano, Jaca Book, 1989, pp. 68-76;
R. Coroneo, Architettura romanica dalla metà del Mille al primo '300, Nuoro, Ilisso, 1993, scheda 74;
R. Coroneo-A. Pistuddi, "Per il catalogo della scultura architettonica romanica in Sardegna: i peducci di S. Maria di Uta (CA)", in Studi Sardi, XXXII, 1999, pp. 271-337;
R. Coroneo-A. Pistuddi, "Per il catalogo della scultura architettonica romanica in Sardegna: i capitelli di S. Maria di Uta (CA)", in Archivio Storico Sardo, XLI, 2001, pp. 355-386;
R. Coroneo-A. Pistuddi, "Per il catalogo della scultura architettonica romanica in Sardegna: i portali di S. Maria di Uta (CA)", in Studi Sardi, XXXIII, 2003, pp. 293-321;
R. Coroneo-R. Serra, Sardegna preromanica e romanica, collana "Patrimonio artistico italiano", Milano, Jaca Book, 2004, pp. 211-219;
R. Coroneo, Chiese romaniche della Sardegna. Itinerari turistico culturali, Cagliari, AV, 2005, p. 98.

How to get there
Once you take the SS 130 to Iglesias, travel about 21 km and turn to Uta. After crossing the entire village, you reach the S suburbs where the church stands.