DESCRIZIONE:
La chiesa campestre si trova su un poggio isolato, creando così una vista panoramica ricca di suggestioni.
È un antico monumento che collega il mondo antico a quello cristiano.
Costruita sulle rovine di un nuraghe, questa chiesa si trova vicino alle antiche terme romane chiamate Aquae Lesitanae.
Nel 1163, il vescovo di Castra donò questa chiesa ai monaci camaldolesi con il consenso del giudice turritano Barisone II de Lacon-Gunale e dell’arcivescovo di Torres.
L’edificio è semplice ma affascinante, costruito con blocchi di trachite rossa locale.
La facciata ha un portale architravato e un campanile a vela, mentre l’abside è semicircolare.
NARRAZIONE:Some monuments act as a link between the ancient and Christian worlds and often clearly demonstrate a human habitation still perceptible today. The country church of San Saturnino di Usolvisi, a few kilometres from the municipality of Bultei, fully reflects this phenomenon. It was, in fact, built on the ruins of a nuraghe and is located a short distance from the ancient Roman baths called Aquae Lesitanae.
During the Sardinian Medieval Kingdoms, called Giudicati, the relationship with the most powerful monastic orders was of fundamental importance. In fact, there are many testimonies of donations by the Sardinian Sovereigns to the aforesaid orders, with the intention of moving from the sphere of influence of the Byzantine Church to the Catholic Church; In this regard, the temple in question was first mentioned in a deed dated 1163, where Attone bishop of Castra, with the authorisation of the Turritan king Barisone II de Lacon-Gunale and Alberto, archbishop of Torres, donated it to the Camaldolese monks together with the church of Santa Maria di Anela, both belonging to the Curatoria del Goceano. The Curatoria was the main administrative, electoral, fiscal and judicial division of the medieval Sardinian kingdoms.
Its essential layout is single-laid in carefully positioned blocks of local red trachyte. The sloping façade is composed of a single mirror surrounded by wide corner pilasters, into which the end frames of the sides are inserted. In the centre is an architraved portal with a round arch and an undecorated lunette. On the flanks there are two splayed single lancet windows, in the one on the right opens an architraved portal with an unadorned arch and lunette like that of the façade.
The semicircular apse facing north-east has a splayed single lancet window equal to those on the two flanks. The pitched roof of the apsidal gable is interrupted by the presence of a bell gable, most probably built in a later period.
BIBLIOGRAFIA:Vittorio Angius, “Bultei”, in G. Casalis, Dizionario geografico storico-statistico-commerciale degli Stati di S.M. il Re di Sardegna, II, Torino, G. Maspero, 1834, pp. 691-694;
Dioinigi Scano, Storia dell’arte in Sardegna dal XI al XIV secolo, Cagliari-Sassari, Montorsi, 1907, p. 336;
Raffaello Delogu, L’architettura del Medioevo in Sardegna, Roma, La Libreria dello Stato, 1953, p. 146;
Ginevra Zanetti, I Camaldolesi in Sardegna, Cagliari, Fossataro, 1974, pp. 125-129;
Aldo Sari, “Una chiesa romanica del Goceano: il San Saturnino di Usolvisi”, in Sesuja, I, 1985, pp. 121-127;
Roberto Coroneo, Architettura romanica dalla metà del Mille al primo ‘300, collana “Storia dell’arte in Sardegna”, Nuoro, Ilisso, 1993, sch. 49;
Roberto Coroneo, Chiese romaniche della Sardegna. Itinerari turistico-culturali, Cagliari, AV, 2005, pp. 62-63;
Andrea Fenu, Bultei e il suo territorio, Nuoro, Solinas, 2005.
COMUNE:Bultei INDIRIZZO:Località San Saturnino - SP 86 MAPPA:Array