DESCRIZIONE:
La chiesa di San Michele Arcangelo a Siddi, risalente alla seconda metà del XIII secolo, è un tesoro nascosto nelle periferie urbane di grande valore storico e artistico
Con una pianta a due navate di dimensioni diverse e un’unica abside, mostra una facciata divisa in due specchi con un portale d’accesso per ciascuna navata, un oculo e alloggi per bacini ceramici.
Il portale della navata minore presenta un rilievo interessante diviso in quattro riquadri con figure antropomorfe, interpretate come il ciclo iconografico della “caduta”, rappresentando Lucifero, Adamo, Eva, l’Arcangelo Gabriele e il Creatore.
NARRAZIONE:In many urban peripheries are kept small jewels that hand down to posterity their ancient glory. A clear example of this phenomenon is the church dedicated to San Michele Arcangelo, the ancient parish church of the town of Siddi that, in the Middle Ages, was part of the giudicato of Arborea in the curatorate of Marmilla.
The Romanesque church of San Michele Arcangelo dates back to the second half of the 13th century. It has a plan with two naves of different sizes, divided by arches supported by octagonal pillars and a single apse located in the main one. The presence of two naves suggests that the smaller one also originally had an apse; this hypothesis is supported by traces of remodelling on the sides of the building.
The façade, in original ashlars of medium-sized brown sandstone, is divided into two mirrors by a pilaster, while two corner pilasters complete the façade. The current wooden roof is the result of a reconstruction that led to the reconstruction of the upper parts of the main façade.
Both mirrors have an architraved entrance portal with a lunette; above the main nave portal is an oculus. The architrave of the portal of the nave has an interesting relief divided into four panels by vertical frames with rhomboid motifs; in each panel is an anthropomorphic figure with broad shoulders and slender limbs. According to the most accredited interpretations, it would represent the iconographic cycle of the ‘fall’, supported by the first upside-down figure on the left, which is associated with Lucifer, the fallen angel; the last two images are located within a single panel and are associated with Adam and Eve; as for the two central panels, there is a tendency to identify them with the Archangel Gabriel and the Creator. The external profile of the church is completed by the presence of some accommodation for ceramic basins, now lost, and the squat apse with a splayed single lancet window.
BIBLIOGRAFIA:Vittorio Angius, voce ”Siddi”, in G. Casalis, Dizionario geografico storico-statistico-commerciale degli Stati di S.M. il Re di Sardegna, XX, Torino, G. Maspero, 1850, p. 129;
Raffaello Delogu, L’architettura del Medioevo in Sardegna, Roma, La Libreria dello Stato, 1953, p. 190;
Renata Serra, La Sardegna, collana “Italia romanica”, Milano, Jaca Book, 1989, pp. 377-378;
Roberto Coroneo, Architettura romanica dalla metà del Mille al primo ‘300, collana “Storia dell’arte in Sardegna”, Nuoro, Ilisso, 1993, sch. 139;
Roberto Coroneo, Chiese romaniche della Sardegna. Itinerari turistico culturali, Cagliari, AV, 2005, p. 82.
COMUNE:Siddi INDIRIZZO:Via S. Michele, Siddi MAPPA:Array