Abbasanta (, , literally " holy water"; ) is a town and ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' in the

province of Oristano The province of Oristano (; ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the autonomous island region of Sardinia, Italy. Its capital is the city of Oristano. There are 87 ''comuni'' (: ''comune'') in the province. It has an area of , a total populati ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It is on the main road between Macomer and Oristano.

Description

Abbasanta sits on a

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a Natural satellite, moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a Fissure vent, fractu ...

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...

rich in cork oaks,

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

trees and ' ( mastic trees). The plateau arose from the lava flow of the Montiferru

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

. The landscape of the lava plateau is characterised by pastures that are enclosed by stone walls that surround the ' built in the 18th century. In the surrounding countryside, there are still some typical shelters (') made of stones and boughs by the

shepherd A shepherd is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations; it exists in many parts of the globe, and it is an important part of Pastoralism, pastoralist animal husbandry. ...

s. In the village the stone houses are characteristic. They are low and with few floors, without sheds, but usually with a back courtyard where some space is reserved for the domestic animals. This is a quite common

architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

dwelling in an area traditionally involved in sheep farming rather than agriculture. The front room of the house is often a courtyard for chickens, in the centre of which there is the

hearth A hearth () is the place in a home where a fire is or was traditionally kept for home heating and for cooking, usually constituted by a horizontal hearthstone and often enclosed to varying degrees by any combination of reredos (a low, partial ...

('), used for hanging and drying cured pork meat. Later, fireplaces replaced the hearths.

History

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

times, the town, called ''Ad Medias'', was in the territory of the

Æchilenenses The Æchilenenses also called the Cornenses and Æchilenses were an ancient people of Sardinia, noted by Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music the ...

or Cornenses. The village was built all around the two churches of Santa Amada and Santa Caterina (dedicated to

Catherine of Alexandria Catherine of Alexandria, also spelled Katherine, was, according to tradition, a Christian saint and Virginity, virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a ...

). There was a clear separation between

social classes A social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being the working class and the capitalist class. Membership of a social class can for example be dependent on education, ...

. Until the 1950s the use of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

and

Sardinian language Sardinian or Sard ( , , , , or , ) is a Romance languages, Romance language spoken by the Sardinians on the Western Mediterranean island of Sardinia. The original character of the Sardinian language among the Romance idioms has long been know ...

had distinct and complementary functions. Italian was the

official language An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishmen ...

, used by the

public administration Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

, while Sardinian was the language spoken at home and among friends. The characteristic expressions of the

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

are usually inspired by the

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

and

pastoral The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target au ...

world. Many

proverb A proverb (from ) or an adage is a simple, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and are an example of formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phrase ...

s refer to the values of honesty, friendship, fidelity (of the woman), loyalty, parsimony and obedience to the divine will.

Main sights

The whole of the Abbasanta plateau is rich in

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

sites. Very close to the village is the nuraghe Losa. A country church is set on the site of Sant'Agostino (dedicated to

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

). Around the rural church, there are some characteristic small houses (in Sardinian language ' or ') that host the

pilgrim The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...

s during the religious feasts.

References

Sources

*''

Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World The ''Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World'' is a large-format English language atlas of ancient Europe, Asia, and North Africa, edited by Richard Talbert, Richard J. A. Talbert. The time period depicted is roughly from Archaic Greece, ...

'', Map 48. {{Authority control 1934 establishments in Italy States and territories established in 1934