Abbey of SS. Trinity of Saccargia

The most famous and spectacular medieval church in Sardinia stands in the north-west, near Sassari: majesty, beauty and a legendary halo will involve you Its tall dark bell tower stands out in a green valley, seeing it from afar causes the first jolt, infinite emotions follow when, after a slight slope, the portico and facade appear. Leaving the state highway 131 to enter Sassari-Olbia, after a kilometer, you will see the basilica of the Holy Trinity, a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture in Sardinia. Lofty perfection and two-tone dress combine it with contemporary Umbrian-Tuscan churches. Its imposing bulk, raised on a rocky spur, dominates the plain of Saccargia, in the territory of Codrongianos. The condaghe dedicated to the basilica includes the abbey of sa Santissima Trinidade de Saccargia among the possessions of the Camaldolese as early as 1112, which remained so for at least three centuries. The text, written in the seventeenth century, tells that Constantine I of Torres and his wife Marcusa, eager for an heir, during a votive pilgrimage to the basilica of San Gavino (Porto Torres), would have been guests of the monks: a sacred apparition induced them to have the church built. When Gonario II was born, to repay the debt, they donated it to the Camalodolese. In the condaghe the date of consecration of the basilica is mentioned: 1116. Not the foundation, because the temple was not erected from scratch but on the ruins of a previous sanctuary, in several phases. The monastery and cloister were annexed to the church, the only intact building of the abbey, of which you will notice the ruins next to it. The echo of ancestral cults vibrates under their foundations: the area has always been considered sacred, called Sacraria, which evolved into Saccargia. Regarding the name, in the past the legend prevailed that traces it back to s'acca argia, 'the spotted, spotted cow', which every day presented itself in front of the monastery to offer milk to the friars and knelt on the back, in act of prayer. Architects of various Tuscan schools have given shape to one of the most famous medieval churches in Italy, a monument almost thirty meters long, seven wide and 14. Two construction phases are distinguished: the walls in white limestone cantonetti and dark basaltic barely hewn. of Pisan workers between the end of the 11th and the beginning of the 12th century; while the regular two-tone work is from Pisa-Pistoia in the second 12th century. The apses, transept and part of the hall, covered with a wooden roof, date back to the first system. Between 1118 and 1120, the hall was lengthened, its walls raised, a high bell tower and sacristy added and the facade redone, divided into three orders. In the lower one opens the architraved portal, the two upper orders are punctuated by five arches set on columns and interspersed with geometric inlays with lozenges and concentric wheels. In the middle of each arch, polychrome ceramic basins are interspersed. At the end of the 13th century, when the church was completed, a portico with a gable roof was added to the façade by the masters of Lucca, the current entrance to the temple. It is moved by seven arches resting laterally on pillars and semi-pillars, in the center on columns with capitals decorated with four monstrous winged figures. In the three front arches, you will admire sculptures of fantastic animals that chase each other. The cornices of the pillars have twisted leaf decorations, except for the left pillar, where crouching cattle are sculpted, believed to refer to the legend of sacca argia. On the left wall you will notice, set, a small marble face: according to tradition it is of Judge Costantino. The theories of arches are a constant of all the outer walls. The interior is in the shape of a commissed cross, with a single nave from which, through arches, you will access the arms of the transept, with cross vaults. In each there are two chapels. A crowned Madonna and a Virgin of dark wood are kept near the three apses, which close the building. In the last twenty years of the 12th century, the central apse was frescoed by an Umbrian-Lazio artist: it is the only example on the island of fully preserved Romanesque mural painting. The cycle of frescoes, divided into squares, breaks the monotonous nakedness of the nave: you will admire a Christ in almond, the praying Madonna with saints and other scenes from the life of Christ, which recall the contemporary paintings of San Pietro di Galtellì. The physiognomy of the building was later retouched only by a restoration at the beginning of the twentieth century, by the architect Dionigi Scano. Since 1957 the basilica belongs to the parish of Codrongianos. His visit is special on the Sunday following Pentecost, when the Trinity of Saccargia is celebrated with religious rites, folk performances and poetic competitions.