ITTIREDDU

Located along an ancient Roman road that connected Sardinia from Cagliari in the south to north towards Porto Torres, but which at a certain point found the deviation towards Olbia, Ittireddu is today a predominantly hilly town that is located in the center of three small reliefs that have almost a protective function for the town: “Monte Zuighe” to the east, “Monte Ruju” to the north, and “Monte Lisiri” to the south. The latter is an extinct volcano and as a composition of the soil has contributed significantly to various recent and past activities of the town.

Ittireddu borders Ozieri to the north, Mores to the west and Bonorva for a short stretch to the west too, and finally to the south and east is the border with Nughedu San Nicolò.

The town with its characteristic historic center with narrow streets and houses decorated with murals has seen an expansion towards the south with the more regular structural systems characteristic of a more recent development.

In the center of the town near the town hall there is the Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum, inaugurated in 1984 and strongly desired by the administration that in those years was carrying out a careful census of the archaeological sites present in the territory and which exhibits the archaeological part with finds discovered from prehistory to the Middle Ages, and the ethnographic part that highlights the activities and culture of men within the social life of the various historical periods.

The first documented testimony of the name Ittireddu written as we know it today dates back to 1676, yet up to a hundred years after this date there are attestations that name the town, although with different spellings, “Itiri fustialvos” dating back to the first half of the 13^th century and composed of the two words “Itiri” and “fustialvos”. This was because it was necessary to distinguish it from another village also belonging to the Giudicato of Torres although not very close by, which was “Itiri Cannedu”, today’s Ittiri. Although the second word, “fustialvos”, has a fairly obvious meaning, that is, the Sardinian name in the Logudoro region for the poplar, a tree abundantly present in almost all of the territory of Ittireddu, it is on the first part of the name, “Itiri”, that there is most discussion about its origins.

One theory associates it with the word “itinere” thus indicating a path, which was then the road, which, connecting to the main artery Cagliari-Porto Torres, led to Olbia.

A second theory, also in a certain way linked to the territory, sees its origin in the ancient words “bitte- bitteru” which indicated deer but also mouflons, widely spread in the territory and of which horns were also found walled up inside houses and buildings.

Agriculture and livestock farming play an important role in the country’s economy. Cereals and fodder are giving way to vine and olive crops, or simply space for pastures for cattle, pigs, sheep and horses.

A curious characteristic of Ittireddu is the culture of breeding Sardinian donkeys, and it is in this town that the regional exhibition that focuses on this friendly animal is held every year.

Craftsmanship is also part of Ittireddu’s economy, especially with the production of baskets, and hampers made with rushes and reeds woven by skilled local hands.

Last but not least, the pumice quarry of Mount Lisiri that has been used for decades now for the extraction of the renowned material.

The Patron Saint of Ittireddu, together with Saint James, is the Virgin Mary of Intermontes, celebrated on 8 December in the parish church of Our Lady of Intermontes, in the center of the town. Legend has it that this name, which means “between the mountains”, was given to her after some farmers found the statue of the Virgin at the foot of the three mountains that surround the town. From historical documents we know that the parish must have existed since the early 1300s although it is not known whether the famous statue in question already belonged to the church or whether it was actually a discovery of the farmers. We do know for sure the date in which the name of the church of “Santa Maria di Inter Montes” appears for the first time, in a baptismal document from 1678. Until the early twentieth century the church had a central nave and side altars, and it is only in the last century that the church was expanded with side chapels, two more altars, the bell tower, and the sacristy.

Not far from this stands another place of worship, the church of Santa Croce, now an oratory. Its construction dates back to the 6th – 7th century, but over the years it has undergone various transformation and expansion works, some of which at a structural level, an example of which is its radical modification from the original Greek cross, with sides of equal length and typical of the Byzantine period, to the more recent Latin cross, with two sides longer than the others and characteristic of the Romanesque period. The particular façade with two-colored stones opens onto an arched door that leads to a single internal nave. The discovery of some human remains inside and near the church indicates that Santa Croce was once also used as a burial place.

About 1.5 km from the town center stands the church of San Giacomo, also the patron saint of the town. The sanctuary was built in the 12th century, some findings of building materials suggest that there was a village nearby, and some sources confirm the existence of human settlements until the 16th century. There are several legends about the church of San Giacomo, among which the most interesting is perhaps the one concerning the statue of the saint. It is said that several people tried to move the statue from the country church to the town center, but no one was successful, as the statue, although light and small in size, became very heavy and unmovable with every attempt to move it. The current structure of the church has been modified and added to the original structure, the facade has also undergone renovations, and you can also see blocks of different colors. You enter through a square door towards the inside with a single nave and a gabled roof.

Near this church are the necropolis of “Partulesi”, there are 26 domus de Janas, each with a number of rooms ranging from one to four, of different lengths. The tombs considered to be the most interesting are the number 14 and 19.

To the northwest of the town, the domus de Janas of “Monte Pira” were found. These are 13 funerary hypogea, mostly with a single room, and of which the tomb number 1 is the most interesting.

About 6 km from the town in a southerly direction, there are the necropolises of “Monte Nieddu”. These are five domus, but only three of which are accessible, consisting of different rooms. Finally, the necropolises of “Monte Ruju” are worthy of note, consisting of 17 domus, almost all with a corridor preceding the tomb itself.

The Nuragic period also left numerous testimonies in the territory of Ittireddu. The most common nuraghes have a single-tower structure, while some are complex nuraghes such as “Nuraghe Funtana”, “Sa domo e s’orku”, “Badde Tanchis”, “Monte Lisiri”.

Even the sacred sources, mainly two found in the territory of Ittireddu, “Funtana ’e Baule” and “Iscia ’e Piscamos”, are evidence of religiosity in the Nuragic period.

The Roman age is characterized by the reuse of buildings from the previous Nuragic age and by new constructions that follow the typical square shapes of that period. An example are the 10 rectangular tanks dug into the trachyte, found in the locality called “Olensas”, which are believed to have been used as places for pressing olives, decanting, and storing oil, given that they are more or less connected by channels that must have facilitated the passage of the precious product from one container to another. Also from the Roman era is the bridge called “Pont’Ezzu”, which testifies to how Ittireddu was an important connection hub with other parts of the territory.