ILLORAI

Located in the central part of Sardinia, slightly towards the north, in the region called Goceano, is the town of Illorai. It is characterized by an irregularly shaped territory that extends in a transversal direction from north-west to south-east and has a curious narrowing in the central northern part of the territory almost in the shape of a funnel that then opens again towards the south to widen the borders with the other towns.

The territory is notoriously divided into three parts based on its conformation and orography. The north-west part almost up to the town centre is called “Su Monte”, and is divided into two portions, the one called “Mount Artu”, in the northern end that reaches up to the aforementioned funnel-shaped narrowing, and the one called ” Mount Bassu”, which from the narrowing widens until it meets the second macro-area called “Sa Costa”, being in fact characterized by steep ridges on which the town centre was built. The territory slopes down further in the last part, the south-east, called the “Tirso Valley” from the name of the main river that crosses it for a large part, and is characterized by flat lands and fertile valleys. As the names given to the different macro-areas of Illorai suggest, it can be said that in this territory practically all the environmental and landscape characteristics and varieties are present, with a high altitudinal range that goes from almost 1000 meters of the highest reliefs to just under 200 meters of the river Tirso valleys.

Illorai is however considered predominantly mountainous, with several reliefs that well exceed 600 meters in altitude, and it is curious that the region called “Mount Bassu” (meaning “short” in Sardinian language) has higher mountains than the one called “Mount Artu” (meaning “high, tall”, instead). These mountains are characterized by tall forests, mainly of oaks. In the territory of Monte Artu in the locality of “Melabrina” a Downy oak has been recorded to be among the largest and oldest in all of Europe and is included among the monumental trees protected by the Region of Sardinia. A great variety of flora and Mediterranean scrub can be found in a part of the territory used as a park, called “Iscuvudè”, where there are also accommodation facilities with the possibility of camping, which are very popular especially in summer thanks to the refreshment they offer.

Springs and watercourses are numerous throughout the territory upstream of the town, and they guarantee water supplies for the entire population throughout the year. Watercourses are found downstream of the town and even further south, and many of these are tributaries of the more important river Tirso. In Illorai some of its waters, thanks to the presence of elements such as sulphur, flow minerals at the source and at such temperatures that they are used as thermal waters thanks to their healing properties.

Illorai borders to the northwest with the territory of Bonorva, to the east mainly with Esporlatu, and for a short stretch with Burgos and Bottidda. The other borders are instead with the province of Nuoro, precisely the south-east border with Orotelli, the southern border with Orani, and finally the long western border that extends entirely with the territory of Bolotana.

The town of Illorai as we see it today was built as an amphitheatre taking advantage of the contour lines of the hill that hosts it. There are two main roads that cross it, and other narrower ones form a network of streets that climb up, uniting the entire town.

The main square, in addition to being an important meeting point, is home to the Parish Church and the Town Hall. Not far away are the schools, the oratory of Santa Croce, the Church of San Giovanni, services such as the post office, the pharmacy, and commercial activities.

Several murals that represent ancient scenes of daily life and work activities embellish the streets of the town.

There are no certain sources on the origin of the name of the town of Illorai, there are written attestations around the middle of the 14th century with the spellings “Illorthai” and “Illortay”. One theory states that the name of the town could have been “Lorai” later modified with the addition of the prefix “Il”, but different studies do not confirm this thought.

The economy of Illorai has always been based mainly on the use of the land, both in terms of agriculture and livestock farming, and the use of forest resources given the vastness of its forests. The exploitation of the woods in the northern part of the territory occurred mainly for the cutting of timber, while the part further downstream was used for agriculture, mainly viticulture and olive growing. Livestock farming was widespread throughout the territory and differentiated based on its characteristics, bringing cattle, sheep and goats to graze at times.

Again, thanks to the characteristics of the soil, Illorai once had several quarries from which marble, of renowned quality also at a national level, gypsum and sulphur were extracted. And it is precisely thanks to this last chemical element that the waters in the “Sos Banzos” locality have their thermal characteristics, even if they have never really been exploited at an economic level. Even the artisanal activities that were once present have now disappeared. Today’s economy is still based on land use, but it is also supported by commercial activities and those offering services.

The parish church of Illorai is dedicated to San Gavino, which overlooks the square of the same name. The current structure is very recent and dates back to the mid-60s of the last century, built after the demolition of the previous church dating back to the 17th century. The red brick facade has three enormous glass windows decorated with figures of saints and a gabled roof on top of which stands a large stone cross. A few steps lead to a square door that opens inwards into a church with a single rectangular room, which narrows towards the altar in a completely decorated wall. The gabled roof is supported by arches, while other windows allow strong lighting inside the sanctuary.

A short distance from the parish church stands the church and oratory of Santa Croce, which dates back to the 19th century but underwent renovations during the middle of the last century. The façade ends at the top with a wavy cornice and is characteristic because both the entrance door and the windows above it are arranged in such a way as to form a large cross. This church also has a gabled roof, and the interior has a single room with several lateral openings for the entry of light.

A few dozen meters from these two sanctuaries to the east is the church of San Giovanni Battista. Dating back to the beginning of the 19th century, it has recently been renovated and currently has the exterior completely plastered and painted white. The gabled façade is relatively small and is largely occupied by a large arched door that opens towards the interior consisting of a single nave supported by two arches.

In Illorai there is an important country church about 4 km from the town centre in a south-east direction: the Sanctuary of the “Madonna della Neve”, also known as the church of the “Madonna di Luche”, from the name of the locality where it is situated. Originally there was only a small church that can be dated around the 13th century, a place of worship in a village that probably existed in the Middle Ages. In more recent times, around the middle of the last century, another church was built, used for its religious functions, while the previous one is currently used to host the faithful and pilgrims. Given the enormous participation of the faithful who go to pray at this Sanctuary, it was decided to build, in the 1970s, a third church that can be reached by following an avenue that starts right from the square of the two previous churches. This latter is the church where religious functions are held today, while the other two are used mostly for welcoming the faithful.

The archaeological wealth of Illorai finds its maximum expression precisely in this part of the territory, in the Tirso Valley region. In chronological order, dating back to the Recent Neolithic, the oldest findings of human settlements are the domus de Janas of “Molia”. A complex dug into the tuff rock formed by nine necropolises, each of them independent from the others and many of which are composed of several rooms connected to each other, in tomb number 7 there are as many as 16 cells. Many walls have decorative elements carved from the rock such as frames, architraves, doors, and there is no lack of elements of colour, especially red, which was a typical colour used by the people of those times as a symbol of life and passage into the afterlife.

Still belonging to the same era, a little further north of the necropolises and not far from the “nuraghe Luche”, there are two granite monoliths, now placed in a horizontal position by man but with the characteristics of the Menhirs, which once stood in a vertical position, with their height of almost 2 meters and almost 1 wide.

Remaining in the Tirso Valley, the Nuragic age has given us, among others, the nuraghe Luche, a partially collapsed single tower that reaches 10 meters in height and is developed on several levels, but which is difficult to access due to structural failures. Near the nuraghe you can see the remains of some huts that indicated the presence of a probable village.

A monumental structure that crosses the Tirso river and is called the Devil’s bridge, also known as “Pont’Ezzu”, dates back to the period of Roman domination. The construction in basalt blocks that we see today is the result of a 14th century reconstruction, is 50 meters long and 9 meters high at the highest point and is supported by three arches of which the central one is the widest.