Chiesa di Santa Maria di Coros

The Church of Santa Maria di Coros, located in the territory of Ittiri, stands as a striking testimony to medieval religious architecture in Sardinia. This country church, immersed in the rural landscape, guards a rich and complex history that is intertwined with that of the Cistercian Order on the island.

The site on which the church stands once housed a monastery belonging to the Cistercian Order, in close connection with the not distant abbey of Santa Maria di Paulis. This connection suggests the existence of a well-structured monastic network in the region during the Middle Ages. It is assumed that the church functioned as a priory and, at the same time, as a hermitage, highlighting the versatility of religious structures of the time in meeting different spiritual and organisational needs.

Despite the absence of documents attesting to the precise date of construction of the building, scholars, based on a careful analysis of the architectural features, place its construction in the first half of the 13th century. This dating is corroborated by the evident concordances with the typical construction practice of the Cistercian masters working in central-northern Sardinia at that time, thus reflecting the influence of this important monastic order on sacred architecture on the island.