Chiesa di San Lorenzo

The church of San Lorenzo is located on the outskirts of Bauladu, surrounded by a large fenced green area that also includes a small cemetery. This temple represents the oldest religious structure in the village. According to tradition, the construction of the church is attributed to the Camaldolese monks of Santa Maria di Bonarcado, but there are no documents attesting to this event and allowing the exact date of its foundation, which should be between the 12th and 13th centuries. Over time, the building has undergone various modifications and extensions, but some parts of the original Romanesque structure are still recognisable, particularly in the lower part of the façade, made of square blocks of basalt, sandstone and green trachyte.

Later additions are the leaning chapels on the south side and the square belfry.

The church has a single-nave floor plan with a semicircular apse housing the wooden Baroque high altar.

It should also be emphasised that the site where the church stands has an even more ancient history, as evidenced by the nuraghe of San Lorenzo, evidence of human presence in ancient times. Moreover, the toponym 'Ad Vadum Latum' is linked to the Roman period and represents the primitive settlement of Bauladu, a name that, as Angius says in 1833, would derive from Bau Ladu= Guado Largo, in reference to the passage that allowed one to cross the Riu Mannu that flows near the village.