Located in the Sassari countryside, the church of Sant’Anatolia stands atop a hillock surrounded by volcanic trachyte and rich green fields, in an area inhabited since pre-Nuragic times. The first mention of the church of St. Anatolia dates back to Jan. 31, 1571; there is no certain information about the date of its founding, but it is now certain, however, that there is a rock church of early medieval age, buried, near the present country church. The building has a flat, white gabled facade marked by a string-course cornice. The rectangular entrance portal is preceded by a trachyte staircase and leads into the atrium of the church, which actually constitutes the former presbytery: in fact, numerous traces of the original building are still visible today as they have been incorporated by later structures. This room leads to the central body of the church, with a single bay and six side chapels, three on each side, leading toward the high altar in which the simulacrum of the church’s titular saint is housed. Of particular interest are the frescoes in the apse depicting a blue sky with white clouds from which seventeen cherubs emerge around a half-length, wingless female figure holding olive branches: this is most likely St. Anatolia herself.
