Of particular interest is the ancient parish church of Nurachi, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, which represents one of the most important early medieval complexes in Sardinia.
There have been several restorations and modifications over time that have changed its exterior appearance, until the last intervention in 1983, which allowed for important archaeological discoveries.
Excavations have returned evidence of life dating back to the Neolithic, Nuragic, Roman and medieval periods. During restoration work, an inscription above a pillar in the nave came to light that attributes the reconstruction of the entire church to the bishop of Arborea, Don Antonio Canopulo, but the date is not legible. Angius and La Marmora report that inside the church there was a carved coat of arms with a nuraghe and a fish. The epigraph below specified, “Hoc est signum autorict. / Istius oppidi de Nurachi.” The nuraghe and the fish have always been known as a symbol of Nurachi.
Excavations have uncovered a baptismal font, attributable to the 6th century AD, part of a pre-existing Romanesque basilica, which places Nurachi alongside the Christian complexes of Cornus and Tharros as part of the spread of Christian architectural formulas imported from Africa by African bishops who moved to Sardinia. Restorations also restored the Gothic-style chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary, built later than the church, to its original splendor.
Coeval with the construction of the church is certainly the wooden pulpit dossal, recovered from a private home and restored. Inside the church can be admired statues of considerable value, including a 17th-century crucifix, probably commissioned by the confraternity of the Rosary for Easter rites, statues dating from the 16th and 17th centuries of Our Lady of the Assumption, St. Sebastian, St. James, St. Augustine, and Saints Justus and Shepherd.
