Its imposing outline stands out in a valley, where churches and monasteries thrived almost a thousand years ago, but only their ruins still remain, safeguarding stories, mysteries and popular legends. The church of San Michele di Salvenero is located in the Ploaghe countryside, three kilometres from the residential zone, in an area where the village of Salvennor once stood during the period of the Judicates, but it was later abandoned in the 18th century. The construction of the sanctuary dates back to the end of the 11th century on the initiative of the Judge of Torres, Marianus I: it was given to the monks of the Vallombrosa Abbey around 1139. Thanks to the powerful monastic order, the complex prospered: it owned lands and enjoyed important privileges. The subsequent Aragonese domination forced the monks to abandon the church and monastery, which were already in ruins during the 16th century. Although the sanctuary was restored several times, the monastery and the churches in the area – Sant’Antimo, San Sebastiano and San Nicola – were abandoned and left to decay, dotting the rural landscape with ruins. What remained of the monastery was demolished in the 19th century to build road infrastructures.

The church’s layout is like that of the nearby Basilica of Santissima Trinità di Saccargia: it has a Tau cross, that is ‘T-shaped’, with a single nave ending in three semicircular apses, of which the central one is the largest. Initially, small and medium-sized limestone blocks were used, which you will notice in the apses, on the façade and on the sides. Later, black volcanic stone was also used, creating a two-tone effect, which you will observe particularly in the sacristy. This space may originally have been the base of a bell tower that was destroyed. The façade is divided into three sections, with corner pilasters, an oculus aligned with the portal and a cross-shaped window. A section of wall on the right is all that remains of a portico connecting the church to the monastery that no longer exists. Inside, you will see the wooden roof of the nave and cross-shaped ones of the transept arms. The rooms against the side walls were built in recent periods. A few metres away from the front and all around the building you will notice other traces of the monastic buildings. Some sources speak of underground passages and tunnels that connected the church and monastery and led towards the valley, perhaps to allow the monks to escape in the event of attacks. A local legend says that there is a secret passage in one of the tunnels that may lead to the rich treasure of the Vallombrosian monks.

Three kilometres in a northwesterly direction separate San Michele di Salvenero from the absolute masterpiece of Romanesque style on the Island: the Basilica of Santissima Trinità, on the Saccargia plain, in the territory of Codrongianos. The very tall bell tower and its elegant, slender outline, clad in black and white limestone and basalt ashlars, make it one of the monuments of Sassari not to be missed.