Summary (English)
The site of Santa Vittoria di Serri is situated at 620 m a.s.l. on a basalt plateau characterised by deep crags providing natural protection and fortification of the area on all sides. However, to the north-west the natural defences are reinforced by a defensive wall. The research undertaken here has revealed the importance of the complex, identified as a religious meeting place, of a federal nature, for the communities within the territory. Various excavation campaigns have been undertaken, in particular by Antonio Taramelli between 1907 and 1929, but also by Giovanni Lilliu and Ercole Contu and, in the 1980s, the Archaeological Superintendency of Sassari and Nuoro.
The structures, of various sizes, shake and function, cover an area of over 20 hectares, of which only a minimal part has been investigated to date. The excavated area can be divided into two main parts: the western and eastern sectors. In the first there are a group of rooms delimited to the exterior by a wall, at the northern end of which the so-called hut of the chief is situated, whilst at the southern end another hut is situated by the entrance which opens in the thickness of the fortification wall. Also present a well temple, within an elliptical enclosure, and several huts. Lastly, at the edge of this sector are the remains of a corridor nuraghe, attesting residential occupation already in the Middle Bronze Age and therefore prior to the creation of the sanctuary in the late Nuragic Era. Close by is the small church of Santa Vittoria, built by the Byzantines and then restructured in the Età Giudicale. At the centre is the large enclosure for festivals, originally with a portico, as confirmed by the remains of pillars supporting the roof. The line of the wall is often interrupted by the presence of rooms opening onto the internal space.
On the contrary, in the eastern sector, excavations to date seem to show that the residential function is predominant over the religious one. Several huts are present here, mostly, joined together to form blocks, that is groups of rooms surrounded by a wall and arranged around a central space. Among them a large circular hut stands out. This is interpreted as the Curia, that is the place for community meetings. The area to the north-east of this structure was chosen for the 2011 campaign. Among the numerous structures identified among the collapses and vegetation it was decided to work on those nearest to the zone that had already been excavated, with the aim of completing the plan of a part of the complex and understanding its chronology and use. As far as can be deduced from the preliminary study phase, most of the spaces were extremely articulated, the walls constituted both by the typical double facing filled with earth and stones and by large stone slabs fixed vertically into the ground. In the interior the spaces were divided into sectors attesting different uses which have yet to be ascertained.
- Paola Mancini 
Director
- Antonio Sanciu - Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici per le Province di Sassari e Nuoro
Team
Research Body
- Soprintendenza Beni Archeologici delle Province di Sassari e Nuoro
Funding Body
- Comune di Serri
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