Chiesa di Santa Maria di Sibiola – Serdiana, Sardinia, Italy
Serdiana is a comune in the Province of South Sardinia in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 20 kilometres north of Cagliari.
The small church of Santa Maria is located near Serdiana. The church stands in the rural location where, in the Middle Ages, the village of Sibiola, whose existence is documented from 1215 to the 16th century, was located.
The erection of the church of Santa Maria is dated to the first quarter of the 12th century by workers in the service of the Victorine monks.
As recorded in a 1338 inventory, the church was among the possessions of the Benedictine monks of the Abbey of St. Victor of Marseilles. In 1341 the title of Santa Maria di Sibiola appears for the first time.
The church originally had a bell gable, which was accessed by the characteristic external staircase, still visible on the north side.
Inside the church was kept an altarpiece of the Last Judgment, a fifteenth-century work attributed to the “Master of Olzai” (an artist identifiable as Antonio or Lorenzo Cavaro).
Two surviving panels of the altarpiece are now in the National Gallery of Cagliari.
Video Source: Chiesa di Santa Maria di Sibiola (Serdiana – Sardegna) aerial drone from Simon Ska on Youtube ⁄ CC BY
