About 18km southeast of Sassari on the SS729, this is the most visually striking of the isolated Romanesque churches that spring up across the territory known as the Logudoro. The landmark basilica, with its stripy limestone and basalt bell tower, was supposedly built in 1116 on the site of a miraculous revelation.
According to legend, the Giudice Constantino di Mariano and his wife camped the night here and received a vision telling them that they were going to have their first longed-for child. The Giudice, delighted by the news, built the church and a neighbouring monastery, which the pope subsequently gave to the Camaldolite monks. Little remains of the monastery, although the church with its basalt walls is still in use.
