THE CHURCHES

The building layout presents two opposite apses. The edifice, of a considerable size, was built in limestone starting from the eastern apse. It presents three naves marked by arcades, springing from columns adorned by beautiful, reused marble capitals sculpted in the Roman age. The nave is covered with a wooden roof, while the aisles show a masonry groin vault. Along the external perimeter, the fine wall face is partitioned by arcades resting on pilasters. One of the two noteworthy portals is Romanesque, placed on the northern side; the other one, facing south, presents a Catalan-Gothic style.

The small town of Porto Torres rises upon the site of the Roman colony of Turris Libisonis, founded in the 1st century B.C. Archaeological excavations unearthed the ruins of a bridge and of a thermal complex, known as Palazzo di Re Barbaro. This name is supposed to derive from the Roman governor who apparently ordered the execution of Gavinus, a local martyr who lived in the early 4th century. San Gavino basilica covered a cathedral role up to the mid-15th century. The earliest mention of the title dates back to 1065 and is reported by the Condaghe di San Pietro di Silki. Sources referring to the history of the basilica are the Inventio Corporum Sanctorum Martyrum Gavini, Proti et Ianuarii, assigned to the 13th-14th century, the appendix of a Passio reporting the vicissitudes of Gavinus, Protus and Januarius, local protomartyrs, in addition to the Condague attesting the foundation and consecration of the basilica, a 17th-century apograph. This source reports the construction of the basilica by will of Gonario-Comita di Torres to fulfil a vow and the completion of works under the guidance of his son, Torcotorio-Barisone I de Lacon-Gunale, sovereign in 1065. In the 17th century, some remains were brought to light and believed to be Saint Gavinus’s sacred relics, in addition to those of his martyrdom companions Protus and Januarius. A crypt, still visitable today, was built beneath the church to keep their sacred remains.

The remarkable 11th-century portal, placed to north-west, underwent restoration works as early as in the Aragonese age; it consists of marble elements, including capitals decorated with animal, geometric and human figures. The ruined relief of the lunette, kept inside the church, presents a scene depicting a fight between two knights. Also significant are the capitals in the interior, surmounting the twenty-two columns marking the basilical hall. Mostly referring to a late-Roman/Byzantine age, they were reused in the Romanesque construction; among them, three exemplars with doves were reworked in early-medieval age. Only two of them are coeval to the construction of the basilica. The church is accessed through an imposing 15th-century Aragonese portal with two openings.

From the early 20th century until 1976-78, San Gavino basilica underwent a series of radical restoration works, which led to the isolation of the building by the demolition of a few construction bodies, subsequent to the church building and likely dating from the Aragonese age.

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.