Wood of Santa Maria Angiargia – Su Angiu

The country church of Santa Maria was built circa 12th century AD over the remains of an earlier Roman settlement. The plain design of the current building, reworked after the 16th century AD, perfectly fits in with the surrounding area, still partly covered by the wood that used to grow all over the area.

By appointment, in the surroundings you can visit a Roman bath, which includes a pool with three niches and a drain, and, closer to the wood, the remains of an alleged Roman cistern and other buildings, both Roman and Medieval.

The church was built in the aftermath of a miraculous event: as tradition goes, a farmer was stuck because a wheel of his cart had fallen into a ditch. Lots of people went to help him and, after pulling the cart out, they noticed a well with niches and a statue of the Virgin inside. However, the feat of taking the holy icon to the village was never completed: the cart with the precious statue on it dashed into the wood at full speed. The people there sensed that that was the Virgin’s will and built a little church in the wood in Her honour.

As well as the church, the wood too is considered consecrated to the Virgin, and the warning that not a leaf be taken out of the wood on pain of very bad luck for those who do still applies there.