The country church of St. Catherine of Alexandria, a martyr of the Byzantine church of the 4th century, is located in the territory northeast of Berchidda about 4.5 km from the town (starting from the Piazza del Popolo, passing through the cemetery and continuing to the road to Calangianus). It rises on the hill of the tanca of the same name in an area protected by Mount Limbara, thus favored by climatic conditions suitable for human settlements to the earliest times. Nature, rich in Mediterranean flora, once abounded with flocks, crops, game and bee hives. Around the church, centuries-old olive trees, under which tables are set on the day of the popular festival (the first Saturday in June), still make a good sentinel. This area is defined as an “area of archaeological interest” because of the presence of dolmens: “stone table” and “allèe couverte” (covered corridor in French), tombs dating back to the Recent Neolithic and Megalithic religion (3000 BC). Another important trace of the Ancient Sardinian Epoch, relating to Roman Sardinia (238 B.C.-476 A.D.), is the discovery, in the “Sa Contrizzola” region, of the treasure “su siddadu,” consisting of about 1,400 ancient Roman coins. Such treasure was discovered by the Demuro brothers in 1918 during plowing work.
After a period of relative prosperity experienced on the island in the first centuries of the second millennium, between the end of the 14th century and the first half of the 15th century, there is evidence of the abandonment of many settlements. Thus most of the rural centers disappear. According to Dr. A. Maria Taras’ dissertation, “The Disappeared Centers of Mount Acuto,” only the churches around which religious life took place remained of these settlements; these include St. Catherine’s, St. Andrew’s, and St. Michael’s, which were restored in the 1980s and opened for their respective festivals; while scant ruins of St. Peter’s and St. Gavino’s remain. Of St. Catherine of Alexandria (liturgical feast Nov. 25), the 6th-8th century Greek Passio recounts her refusal to make sacrifices to the gods, as imparted by Emperor Maxentius (or Maximinus); she was condemned to the torture of the cogwheel, which, however, the angels managed to break, and she was therefore killed with the sword. She was painted by the greatest painters: Raphael, Titian, Correggio.
An association, whose president is elected every three years, organizes the related field festival with a mass and lunch offered to all participants.
