The small country church dedicated to Santa Maria di Monte Fracca is located in the immediate vicinity of the village of Barrua.
A legend is linked to the church, according to which the Virgin Mary appeared to a hunter in the year 1724, and following the appearance and discovery of the wooden Statue of the Saint by the same hunter, the inhabitants of Barrua built the Chiesetta.
This legend, as well as handed down orally, is narrated in the ”Coggius,” a kind of prayer in verse, sung, written in 1924 by an unknown author, on the occasion of the bicentennial of the discovery of Santa Maria, in the hill of Monte Fracca.
The little church may be much older, however, than what is narrated in the legend, in particular it may be of Aragonese/Iberian (‘400/’500) origin, although definitive evidence on the dating, there is none.
The structure of the building is simple: rectangular plan, single nave, double-sloping roof, bell gable.
Unfortunately, the Chiesetta has undergone some interventions that have greatly impaired its original appearance, and have eliminated some original elements, such as the side door or the small window located in the apse, from which the dawn light penetrated inside.
