THIESI

Thiesi is an important socioeconomic center of northwestern Sardinia located in the Logudoro region and more precisely in the subregion called “Meilogu”. Its territory is predominantly hilly, with the highest relief, Mount Pelao, which reaches 730 meters above sea level, and which marks for a stretch the entire eastern border of Thiesi with Borutta.

Mount Pelao is a vast plateau that extends into the territories of various municipalities, including Bessude to the north, with which Thiesi borders for a long stretch, and which at a certain point shares with this town a portion of Lake Bidighinzu. There are several tributaries that flow into the artificial lake and that cross the territory of Thiesi far and wide.

To the north, Thiesi also borders Ittiri, and this is perhaps the wildest part of the territory, with reliefs, rocky walls, thick woods, valleys and gorges, which make this portion of the territory very fascinating from a naturalistic point of view and home to various species of wild animals.

The western border is almost entirely shared with the territory of Romana, and only for a short stretch, still to the west, Thiesi also touches Villanova Monteleone. To the south, Thiesi borders Giave, Cossoine and Cheremule. It is interesting to note a peculiarity in relation to this last municipality. In fact, there is a hamlet of Cheremule within the territory of Thiesi, an administrative island detached from what is the territory of Cheremule, and distant from it about 2 linear km.

In Thiesi, hills alternate with mountains and plains, thick and impenetrable forests alternate with fertile expanses, giving the territory, dotted here and there with important archaeological sites, an enviable naturalistic wealth.

Near Monte Majore there is a cave also known as a sinkhole, perhaps because of its difficult to locate access, which is a small cavity immersed in the woods. The entrance is in a corridor that leads to the main room to which several smaller rooms are connected. The cave has a rectangular plan and a total size of about 300 square meters. Inside there is a spring located in an arm that develops parallel to the development of the cave; to get there you need to go along a long crack where water flows, which sometimes reaches a certain height so the path is dangerous.

The most important characteristics of the cave are the presence of stalactite and stalagmite formations and a large colony of bats. The presence of water and the shelter offered by the cave allowed it to be used as a dwelling even in the Early Neolithic period, about 7,000 years ago, as demonstrated by the findings of ceramics inside it.

About 3 km northwest of the town is the estate known as “sa Tanca de Santu Ainzu”, a farm of about 80 hectares characterized by centuries-old woods and monumental oaks, located on a promontory from which you can admire the panorama below.

The estate is part of “Sa Silva”, the manor forest that belonged to the feudal lord where no one could enter, much less hunt or collect wood. For this reason, the forest has remained fairly intact. Sa Tanca was purchased by Enrico Garau in 1878 at an auction held in the Manca family palace in Sassari (the current town hall of Sassari). The Garau family, and in particular Donna Caterina, sold wood by pruning the trees or eliminating the old and damaged ones, which is why the forest has remained quite intact despite being very close to the town.

The compendium includes the church of San Gavino, a well-preserved nuraghe of the same name, a stone quarry and a furnace for the production of lime, as well as all the structures necessary for agricultural activities, but also the manor house and the rooms of today’s farmhouse.

If we look at the town of Thiesi from above, we will notice that it has the shape of a triangle, bordered to the east by the state road 131 bis, an important road artery that connects the town to the S.S. 131, just 5 km away, and which continues in the direction of Ittiri and Alghero. At the northern vertex is the F.lli Pinna dairy industry, while the south-east vertex is occupied by the town’s artisanal and industrial area, with important economic realities.

This progressive expansion occurred from the historic center, which also had a triangular shape, of which one could, and still can, see at the vertices three churches that gave rise to the legend that the plague would never enter the town because when they saw the flying devils arriving with sacks full of plague, the three saints, “Mariedda” (the Madonna of Seunis), “Giuanneddu iscuzu” (Saint John) and “Sebustianu nudu” (Saint Sebastian), rose up holding hands and protected the town. The devils, upon seeing them, moved away towards another town.

The original historic center, which is today located in the south-east part of the town, corresponds almost entirely to the Sas Rochitas district; this toponym seems to indicate a series of small fortifications that protected the ridge that today is parallel to via f.lli Chessa. The heart, however, was in via Matteotti, called “Carrela di Putu” (the street of the well) due to the presence of an ancient well. There was also the ancient church of Santa Maria Ostana (Madonna della neve: Our Lady of the Snow) whose foundation stone, now exposed in the entrance of the town hall, dated it to 1204. With the arrival of the Manca feudal lords, the historic center was enriched by the ducal palace (which gave the name to the district: Palatu, meaning “palace”), the defense tower of the entrance, transformed into a prison in 1600, and the Parish of Santa Vittoria dating back to the end of 1400.

Adjacent to today’s town hall are the old civic market and the municipal slaughterhouse, also witnesses of a society, albeit more recent, in which all the necessary services were located within the town. On the west side of the square, the prison tower is still visible and can be visited. It dates back to the 15th century and was built after the Aragonese conquest as a lookout and defense point, to monitor what was the ancient access to the town, near the church of San Giovanni. After about a century, it changed from a lookout tower to a prison and was used as such until the middle of the last century, especially for minor crimes. On the other side of the square, a staircase leads to the domus de Janas “Binza ’e Josso”, a complex of six necropolises that are still accessible.

The historic center is characterized by both simple, one-story and modest-sized homes, but also by houses that belonged to the town’s noble families. Since the middle of the last century, Thiesi has experienced a construction expansion towards the west, and this can be seen from a more structured and linear road network, which in the western part follows a well-organized grid of roads and buildings. The town is also a point of reference, both for local residents and for the surrounding area, also from a health point of view thanks to the presence of what until recently was the civil hospital, of which today only outpatient clinics remain.

Not far from the hospital, you can visit the Aligi Sassu museum, dedicated to the painter who lived in Thiesi in the last century. The museum was born because the artist painted a mural on a facade of the new elementary school that represents the anti-feudal revolt of Thiesi, and exhibits paintings made by the artist with different techniques, representing both historical scenes and scenes inspired by literature, with sometimes futuristic traits, but above all with the depictions of horses often present in his paintings.

The town of Thiesi is embellished with numerous murals that often represent scenes of real life of the society of the past, based mainly on agriculture and livestock, traditional festivals and costumes of the place.

In Thiesi there are also numerous services useful to the community, schools, from nursery to high school, police headquarters, various banking institutions, consultancy services, sports facilities, gardens and meeting places.

The origin of the name Thiesi is rather uncertain. Some scholars connect it to ancient Phoenician words, while others follow the theory of Greek derivation of the name, especially for the initial consonants “Th” typically used in the Hellenic regions. The use of the form “Thiessi” is attested in only one writing dating back to the first half of 1400 which concerned the acquisition of land by the Manca brothers; therefore, it could be assumed that this spelling was a coincidence, given that in various maps of the territory the wording “Tiesi” is found.

In the documents of the first centuries of the year 1000, “Tigesi” is found but already in 1300 a name very close to the current one is attested with some variations (Tuyses, Turses, Tiesi, Tiesy, Tiezi, Tiessy, etc.) and from 1400 it stabilizes in Tiesi, Tiesy, Tiessy, Tiesi.

This spelling lasted until the end of the 19th century, when it was decided to insert the consonant “h” in the name for more practical reasons, for the correct writing and reading of the town of Thiesi and to avoid confusion with another town not so far away, which is Tissi.

Thiesi represents an economic point of reference for the entire Meilogu area. The agricultural vocation of the territory combined with the resourcefulness of its inhabitants has allowed the development of livestock farming, in particular beef cattle and dairy sheep, with the products derived from these that are entirely processed within the territory of Thiesi.

An example of a short supply chain and transformation of zero-mile products is represented by the various industrial dairy production companies that collect sheep’s milk from local producers, but also from farms scattered throughout Sardinia, and process it using a key element, natural rennet, produced by an industry also based in Thiesi.

As for beef cattle, there are several slaughterhouses, some also have their own direct sales point in order to guarantee maximum freshness of the meat from the producer to the consumer. The presence of livestock has also allowed the presence of another company that deals with the collection and tanning of hides.

As for the packaging of products, in Thiesi there is also an important company that deals with packaging and cardboard, and finally to close the circle relating to the production and sale of products, there is no shortage of transport companies thanks to which the goods reach the national, continental and world territory.

Both in the town and in the industrial area there are several supermarkets of food products and shops of clothing, hardware, electricity, plumbing. There are two important car dealerships, an equally important artisan pasta factory, a small company that produces liqueurs, and two breweries, one of which also distributes other drinks.

As for accommodation, in Thiesi there are several points for catering and overnight stays, which includes, in addition to a hotel, also several Bed & Breakfasts.

The parish church of Thiesi is the one dedicated to Santa Vittoria. Built in the old historic centre of the town towards the end of the 15th century when the Manca family obtained the fiefdom of Montemaggiore and wanted to celebrate the victory of the Aragonese over the Sardinians. The style is Catalan Gothic. The large façade has a gabled roof with a huge decorated rose window in a central position, below which there is a small frame and a little further down a large decorated arch with depictions of saints in the part of the architrave that surmounts the large wooden door with three doors enclosed by four columns, two on each side. The bell tower has a square base in the lower part that reaches the height of the church, while it takes on an octagonal shape in the upper part with the arches that house the bells and four clocks at the top. Internally the church has a polygonal base but with a single nave divided into four bays and with various side chapels dedicated to saints.

In the southwestern edge of the town, in a huge square that overlooks and dominates the valleys below, stands the church of Our Lady of (Nostra Signora di) Seunis. It was built towards the middle of the 17th century, probably on the remains of a previous sanctuary dating back to four or five centuries earlier. The entrance is oriented towards the valley almost as if to surprise the faithful with the suggestive panoramic view that they find when leaving the church. The façade is in exposed blocks and ends at the top with a curved cornice surmounted by a small bell tower. Access is via a few steps that lead to a square wooden door with a large double-arched window above to let light in. The external profile on the sides sees the addition of chapels, embellished with columns, arches and buttresses, as well as two other side entrances overlooking the large square in front. The interior consists of a single central nave divided by arches into five bays that end in a bright, colourful and artistic apse which houses the altar and the statue of the Virgin.

Located in a pretty little square in the centre of the town, and dating back to the mid-17th century, stands the church of Sant’Antonio da Padova. The building has a rectangular plan with a rather simple facade in exposed stone, a square door with a first horizontal cornice above, a rectangular window that allows the entry of light, surmounted by a second horizontal cornice that forms the base of the tympanum above which stands a bell gable. Internally, the single nave is divided into three bays, there are no side chapels. The church of San Sebastiano is located in one of the main streets of the town, the state road 131 bis, in front of a small garden. The building dates back to the 17th century and is important because it houses the convent of the Capuchin friars, but today very little of which can be visited. It has a large façade framed by pillars with exposed stone that end in a gabled roof with lateral finishes, a small cross on the top, and a larger cross on a column right in front of the entrance to the sanctuary. The door is square and framed in exposed stone, above which there is a rectangular window surmounted by a small niche. Inside, the single nave is divided into three bays and there are three side chapels with decorations and wooden works.

Not far from this church stands another, that of Santa Croce, dating back to the beginning of the 17th century, which was the seat of the brotherhood of the same name but also of the oratory. The building has undergone several modifications and renovations until it reached its current rectangular shape that extends lengthwise for two streets of the town. The exterior is in blocks of exposed stone with some decorations, while the façade has a square door framed by columns and is surmounted by a tympanum and a rectangular window above. Inside there is a single nave divided into three bays, and it houses several wooden works, including the pulpit, the altar, and various statues.

The territory of Thiesi is rich in archaeological finds dating back to about 6000 years ago, such as the domus de Janas, of which the most famous are those of “Mandra Antine”, about 9 km from the town centre to the west. These are four necropolises, not all of which can be visited, and of which tomb number three is certainly the most interesting. And the interest is given by the architectural and decorative elements present, such as the painted walls, in which red and black prevail, the sculpted ceiling to represent the gabled roof, a false door on a wall and a fireplace sculpted on the floor. All elements that lead back to spirituality, religiosity, but in some way also to the magic of the people who inhabited them.

From the Nuragic period, about twenty towers have come down to us, several of which are in good condition. The most interesting nuraghe is perhaps the one called “Fronte Mola” or “Su Saccu”, which is actually a “protonuraghe”, that is, one of those nuraghi belonging to a period preceding the most common circular constructions in Sardinia. And this is even a unique typology in Sardinia given that it is a rectangular construction, rather than circular, which has a corridor and various rooms, as well as a staircase leading to the upper floor, currently without a roof.

Another very interesting archaeological find in the Thiesi area is a sort of Nuragic ceremonial altar found in the “Monte ’e Mesu” area, climbing almost to the top of the homonymous relief. It is a large flattened block of stone of circular shape with three small basins dug into it, two of which are square and one is circular. The three containers are in an ascending position and are connected to each other almost as if to make the liquid flow from one container to the other. For this reason, its ancient ceremonial use is hypothesized, but nothing can be said with certainty in this vast territory where magic hides in the most unthinkable places.