THE CHURCHES

Totally built in volcanic stone, it has got a single nave with wooden roof and an apse oriented north-eastwards. The edifice is marked by its sober lines and walls, free of decorations or vertical frames. The wall face analysis reveals a renovation of the upper section of the building and its cover. The church stands out for its perfect construction technique, showing the use of medium-sized volcanic stone, accurately worked. 

The earliest confirmation of the title of Sancta Maria de Norgillo is found in a document datable from 1146 to 1185, contained in the Condaghe di Santa Maria di Bonarcado. Another act, datable from 1229, mentioned Barusone Pinna and Dorgotorio de Sogos as witnesses, the latter being qualified as curatore de Norghillos. Either names are reported in a painted inscription found inside the church. Yet, no detailed sources can confirm the church construction period, supposed to date from the second half of the 12th century. 

Inside the church, placed along the side walls upon courses of the same height, an inscription intervalled by clipeate crosses bears the names of a few local characters, Barusone Pinna and Dorgotorio. This inscription, placed at about 160 cm from the ground, was found out following the removal of plaster in the interiors of the Santa Maria della Mercede. It is marked by the use of two different graphic types: Caroline minuscule and uncial majuscule.

In the second half of the 20th century, a series of restoration and consolidation works was requested to prevent the edifice from collapsing, because of a parting of its sides caused by the subsiding ground underneath. On that occasion, it was observed that the church perimeter walls were resting on early-medieval burials: this brought to light a set of noteworthy finds, such as, among others, silver earrings of different manufactures.

Roberto Coroneo, Architettura romanica dalla metà del mille al primo ‘300, Nuoro, 1993. Roberto Coroneo, Renata Serra, Sardegna preromanica e romanica, collana “Patrimonio artistico italiano”, Milano, 2004.Roberto Coroneo, Chiese romaniche della Sardegna. Itinerari turistico-culturali, Cagliari, 2005.