The History of Sarroch
For seven hundred years, in the southwest coast of Sardinia, Sarroch's name is documented, a name probably linked to the sardinian name "sa rocca", the great rock dominating the town. Then Sarroch was a small village, today it is an important town of 5,273 inhabitants where modern industrial economics coexists with stories and traditions of the past.
Its territory has a history of thousands of years witnessed by numerous archaeological evidence: dozens of nuraghs and giant tombs, among which are the sites of Nuraghe Sa Domu e S'Orcu, the Complex of Antigori and Monte Mereu. A history that continued in the Middle Ages, at the beginning of the Aragonese domination of southern Sardinia, when in a papal document of 1341, the village of "SAROC" was mentioned for the first time. In the following centuries history continues its course with the abandonment of the territory closest to the coast due to the Arab pirates raids and the creation of new villages inland in the towns of San Marco and San Giorgio - where you can admire the ' the homonymous church of the 16th century. Later, around the end of the eighteenth century, once the threat of Saracens' corsairs ceased, the village of Santa Vittoria, home of the beautiful eighteenth century church, resumes. Fear and then victory over Moorish invasions is well represented by the majestic Devil's Tower, a defensive and sight-seeing structure built by the Crown of Spain, surrounded by a lush nature overlooking the sea in the headland of Punta Zavorra. Of great prestige and beauty is also the Villa d'Orri, a "royal villa" from 1450-1500 built by the Marquises Manca of Villahermosa who had the honor of hosting the Savoia royal family, and in particular the sovereign Carlo Felice and his consort Maria Cristina of Bourbon. In the historical center, immersed in the greenery of a large park rich in botanical species, Villa Siotto is a manor house of the early twentieth century with its facilities nowadays home to cultural and sporting events. In the second half of the twentieth century the territory became the seat of the Tourist Portof Perd'e Sali, the only nautical structure in South Sardinia between Cagliari and Teulada, built a few steps from the crystalline waters of Perd'e Sali and Porto Columbu. The history and the beauties of Sarroch are these and more, especially an extraordinary mountain heritage, telling us stories of a mountain lived in the past and an authentic "economic resource" and that today gives us enchanted places in the Monti Nieddu Forest as the suggestive Gola de Is Cioffus and testimonies from the past, like the archaeological area of Bidd'e Mores.
By clicking on the menu below you can see some pages taken from the volume published by the Municipality of Sarroch and curated by the late Prof. Stefano Coroneo "Sarroch - Storia, Archeologia e Arte", in which you can deepen the history of Sarroch territory.
- IL TERRITORIO DI SARROCH IN EPOCA PREISTORICA E NURAGICA
- IL TERRITORIO DI SARROCH IN EPOCA ROMANA E MEDIEVALE
- IL PAESE E IL TERRITORIO DAL TRECENTO ALL'OTTOCENTO
- SARROCH NEL NOVECENTO
- LA STORIA DELLA FAMIGLIA SIOTTO A SARROCH