DEALS
The Borgo
The presence of the Cathedral has always attracted scholars and travelers to Tratalias who have left us beautiful written testimonies. What we report today is a text taken from “Commercial Statistical Historical Gazetteer of the States of St. M. the King of Sardinia” written by Prof. Goffredo Casalis in 1840.
<<DEALS:[…]It sits in the plain not far from the right bank of the river, commonly said of Palmas there, exposed to the mistral, west, free wind and noon.
From the north winds it remains protected by the group of hills of S. Michele, from the Greek for the eminences of Narcao, from east for two nearby hills.[…]However, it should be noted that this is one of the sites where you feel the most humidity, not only for the evaporation of the river, but also for the incomparably more abundant one of the ponds that remain to the west-southwest in the distance of 4 a 5 kilometres, and from other causes>>.
The new Tatalias
After a long period of protests and struggles by the inhabitants with nationwide echoes (see participation in the television broadcast “Portobello” conducted by Enzo Tortora), we had to wait until the early 1980s to see the reconstruction take place, even if already in the month of May 1971 the country's reconstruction plan was approved. The new Tratalias would have developed on Mount Nigali and in the adjacent areas, thus remaining not very far from the old center but safe from water infiltration from the dam. Between 1979 (first houses completed) and the 1989, the new center was completed, a totally new country also in architecture, in the spaces but also (and perhaps unfortunately…) also in the way of life.
Santa Maria di Monserrato
The construction of the Cathedral represents the most important moment in the history of Tratalias.
Inside it is kept on the counter-face, the foundation epigraph which shows the date of consecration which took place in the month of June 1213.
With a three-nave basilica plan, its forms recall the Romanesque-Pisan style with some Gothic influences, evident in the arch of the north portal or in the vertical development of the central nave.
The facade has two fields clearly divided and separated by a horizontal band, as well as highlighting the accent of the central nave with its tympanum in which the final stretch of the cantilevered staircase climbs,welcomes on the left an 'epigraph showing the names of the bishops Alberto (1122) and Aimone (1163).
Equipped with a rose window decorated like the rest of the building with stylized acanthus leaves.
The lower field is divided into three parts by two elegant pilasters which delimit the access portal in the center. on the sides two lozenges welcome the inside “the flower of life”, important symbol and chosen not by chance as an image of the village.
Piazza Chiesa Museum of the territory
The church square “was hosting” until the 1932, the Episcopal Palace, shot down by the Superintendence in that year as it was declared unsafe. The recent renovations of the square they tried to give an idea of the grandeur of the building by tracing it, with the use of a stone of a different color, the plant and bringing to light the well of the internal courtyard. Today the Piazza Chiesa houses the “Museum of the Territory, small structure that preserves the testimonies of Old Tratalias through exhibitions of images of the time, plastic reconstructions, storytelling videos, and truthful and timeless contexts such as the “Spanish house”. It also hosts exhibitions and temporary art exhibitions, conferences and cultural events, in addition to carrying out with its own staff, guided tours for groups wishing to visit both the museum itself and the cathedral of S. Maria.