Villanova Monteleone

Overview and Geography

Villanova Monteleone (Biddanòa in Sardinian) is an agricultural and pastoral municipality of 2,133 inhabitants set at an elevation of 567 meters in the Sassarese (Logudoro Turritano) region of northwestern Sardinia. Located inland along the SS292, its hilly municipal territory includes the Temo River reservoir and reaches a maximum altitude of 717 meters.

The town was founded in 1436 by refugees from the nearby fortress village of Monteleone Rocca Doria following a three-year Aragonese siege; they named the new settlement Villa Nueva de Monteleone.

Economy and Local Culture

• Equestrian & Pastoral Center: Villanova Monteleone is one of Sardinia’s primary centers for sheep and goat breeding, as well as competitive horse breeding.

• Anglo-Arabian Horse Market Fair: Every June and July, the municipality hosts the national Mostra Mercato del Cavallo Anglo Arabo Sardo and Italian Saddle Horse show, featuring an official national equestrian jumping competition.

• Crafts & Textiles: Notable local crafts include hand-woven Sardinian wool carpets, tapestries, curtains, wood carving, and basketry.

• Festivals and Traditions: Active groups include the Gruppo Folk Tradizioni Popolari. Major events include:

  • Holy Week (Pasqua): Organized by the Confraternities of Santa Croce and Rosario; features Messa in Coena Domini, the night searches Sas Chircas and Sa Chirca de s’Addolorada, S’Incravamentu, S’Iscravamentu, and S’Incontru on Easter Sunday.

  • San Giovanni Bonfire (June 23): On the eve of St. John’s Day, an Obriere hosts a massive bonfire with traditional ritual fire-jumping and public feasts.

  • Patronal Feast of San Leonardo di Limoges (June 11).

  • Festa della Madonna della Strada (Second Sunday of August): Honors the patroness of motorists with an open-air mass, car blessings, and a recreational motor gymkhana.

  • Festa di Nostra Signora di Interrios (September 8): Celebrated at the Interrios Sanctuary with a horseback and donkey procession.

Main Landmarks and Architecture

Historic Center

• Parish Church of San Leonardo di Limoges: A 16th-century parish church built on Gothic-Aragonese lines, renovated in 1789, with façade work executed in 1960 and 1996. Its side chapels hold two 18th-century carved wooden altars.

• Oratory of Santa Croce: A small single-nave chapel housing a carved wooden altar, a central crucifix, and serving as the historical seat of the Confraternity of Santa Croce.

• Oratory of the Madonna del Rosario: Built in the 16th century in Gothic-Aragonese style, featuring a barrel-vaulted nave, side chapels, a wooden altar piece, and a façade staircase.

• Su Palatu ‘e Sas Iscolas & Civic Ethnographic Museum: A historic schoolhouse constructed between 1890 and 1920 with red and gray trachite bands evoking Romanesque polychromy. Its ground floor houses the Civic Ethnographic Museum “Bastià Pirisi”, exhibiting traditional tools of cheese-making, bread-baking, weaving, carpentry, and pastoral life.

• Town Hall (Municipio): Located at Via Nazionale 106, featuring a castellated turret, crenellations, and a clock.

Archaeological Sites and Coastal Area

• Puttu Codinu Hypogeic Necropolis: Located along the SS292, this late Neolithic to Eneolithic cemetery (4000–2800 BC) contains nine T-shaped domus de janas cut into limestone ridges. Tombs feature bull-horn relief carvings, relief doorframes, a ritual hearth, and yielded an 18-cm cruciform calcite Mother Goddess figurine (Tomb VIII).

• Appiu Archaeological Park & Complex Nuraghe: Located near Mount Cuccu facing the sea. Features a complex quadrilobed nuraghe (Nuraghe Appiu) with a 15-meter central keep, two intact stacked chambers, an outer village, sacred areas with small altars, menhirs (Menhir di Appiu), and the Puzone domus de janas.

• Punta ‘e Su Crabile Sites: Includes a single-tower circular nuraghe (Nuraghe di Punta ‘e Su Crabile) with two small front dolmens and a sub-quadrate ignimbrite-roofed Giant’s Tomb.

• Pedra Russasa Giant’s Tomb: A row-type Giant’s Tomb built of trachite blocks at 303 meters elevation, featuring orthostatic wall bases and an esedra.

• Sanctuary of Nostra Signora di Interrios: A 16th-century rural sanctuary rebuilt in the 18th century with an octagonal dome, lantern, and 1940s arched outer loggia.

• Villanova Coastal Strip & Poglina Military Area:

  • Speranza Beach (Spiaggia della Torre di Poglina): A golden sand and pebble cove backed by Mediterranean scrub.

  • Torre di Poglina & Torre Badde Jana: Ruins of 16th/17th-century Spanish coastal defense towers.

  • Poglina Military Base: Site built around 1954 housing NATO and Intelligence training facilities (historical center of Operation Gladio training).