Chiesa di Santa Maria di Bonacattu

Santa Maria di Bonarcado is a place with a toponym of Greek origin, in its variants Bonarcatu and Bonarcato, derived from 'panàkrantos' (pure, immaculate), an attribute of the Virgin Mary venerated in the local sanctuary. This place, once a Greek monastic site, later passed to the Camaldolese.

The settlement of the Benedictines in Bonarcado dates back to 1110, as attested by the oldest charter of the condaghe di Santa Maria di Bonarcado. In that year, judge Constantine de Lacon-Serra and his wife Anna De Zori, with the consent of the archbishop of Oristano, established a donation and a cenoby in honour of the Trinity and the Virgin Mary, entrusting it to the Camaldolese abbot of San Zeno in Pisa. This agreement stipulated that the monks sent were to govern the monastery, administer it, work and build, dedicating themselves to tending the fields in honour of God, Saint Mary, Saint Benedict and Saint Zeno.

The consecration of the church took place in 1146, as indicated by two parchments of the condaghe. During the ceremony, the Arborean judge Barisone I De Lacon-Serra donated additional goods to the monastery on the occasion of the consecration of the new church of Santa Maria. The ceremony was attended by the Arborean archbishop Comita de Lacon, his suffragans, representatives of the Arborean curatorships and the other three judges of the Kingdom of Sardinia, in addition to the archbishop of Pisa, Villano, as papal legate.