On the eastern edge of Riola Sardo stand the ruins of Santa Corona, a church already in existence in the twelfth century and attributed by recent studies to the Templars: in a medieval deed of donation its priest appears with the rank of captain, and the building is called a temple, two details that fit the Templars and do not fit an ordinary parish. Abandoned from the nineteen thirties and left to collapse, the church has been taken apart piece by piece: its carved stones ended up on the façades of village houses, and to see them you have to walk the streets. Restoration of what remains began in 2009.
The village lives by farming on the Campidano of Oristano, and its calendar has two strong dates. At the feast of San Martino, in November, groups of young people go round at night leaving bundles of reeds at the doors of known drinkers, or grape must on their cars; at the feast of Sant'Anna they light S'Arroda, the wheel of fireworks that gave the whole show its name. In the territory, finally, once stood another village, Villamaiore, which mattered in the Middle Ages and then disappeared altogether.
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📅 Every year, on 11 November
On 11 November Riola Sardo celebrates its patron Saint Martin with roasted chestnuts in the square; the town's main civic celebrations remain those of Saint Anne, on 26 July.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Riola Sardo, but an easy day trip away.
