Romanesque churches with two apses are a rarity in Sardinia and the Church of San Pietro is an exceptional case within this originality, perhaps because its double apse was not envisaged in the original building. The sanctuary is located in the historic centre of Villamar, on the edge of the Majorcan district, an area ‘colonised’ in the 14th century by grain traders from the Balearic Islands. There are no sources that attest to the construction phases, but it is thought that the church was built, with a single nave, in the second half of the 13th century. Later on, a decision was made to expand it to the north by adding a second smaller nave. Both naves end with an apse, but the second has a smaller diameter and is not as deep. It is possible that the work was carried out by different workers and that, when constructing the north nave and the double bell gable, the builders tried to imitate the style of their predecessors. Some decorative motifs, such as the pointed arches on the façade, bring to mind Arab influences, suggesting that masters from Spain worked on the construction site.

The sanctuary, built in sandstone and vulcanite, rests on a high plinth, from which you will see corner pilasters and pilaster strips that start in the façade and divide it into sections. The corbels of the arches are decorated with a variety of ornamental motifs: crosses, flowers, pointed leaves and human protomes. Each of the two naves has its own entrance portal. Inside, they are separated by three large arches resting on rectangular-section pillars. The roofing is made of wood, while the floor retains its original stone construction. You can admire several wooden sculptures, including one depicting the saint to whom the church is dedicated in pontifical robes, gilded and damask, dating back to the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Just over two hundred metres separate San Pietro from the parish church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, constructed on a pre-existing Romanesque building and the result of Gothic-Catalan renovation carried out in the 16th century. The parish church is the place where the Retable of the Madonna del Latte (the Nursing Madonna) is kept, one of the main works by the painter Pietro Cavaro, made up of various panels depicting scenes from the life of Jesus, Mary, apostles and saints. A short distance away, you can also visit the sixteenth-century Church of Madonna di Antoccia, which contains several multicoloured statues created using the cannuga technique, meaning with the body made of a frame of canes. Outside the residential area, in the middle of a park, stands the small Church of Santa Maria d'Itria. Every year, on the third Sunday of August, the people of Villamare come here in a procession, accompanying the statue of the Virgin Mary and celebrating a festival that is particularly heartfelt by the community.