The Benedictine monastery of San Pietro di Sorres

Sardinia is one of the most beautiful regions of Italy from the naturalistic point of view; because its inhabitants have always jealously safeguard their land by opposing overbuilding and preserving its wild nature.

From north to south, in addition to the beauty of the inside area, this beautiful island offers tourists a lot of seaside resort with difficult access to beaches bathed by a clear sea with colors ranging from blue to emerald green …all that is not suited to mass tourism..

The Sassari Province, in the north of the island, has a territory that includes 92 municipalities with a total population of nearly 500.000 inhabitants. There is an historical aspect that perhaps few people know, it was established in 1859, before the unification of Italy in 1861.

This province has the largest territory of Sardinia and Italy, it includes the suggestive Gulf of Asinara in the north, with the homonymous beautiful island, the only natural lake in the region, Lake Baratz and one of the largest artificial lakes, Lake Coghinas.

Borutta is a small village of the internal territory of Sardinia, with less than 300 inhabitants. It “hides” a historic/architectural gem: the Benedictine Monastery of San Pietro di Sorres. Since 1894, this complex in Romanesque style built between the XII and XIII century, has been classified as Italian National Monument.

Church and monastery are located on a plateau at just over 500 meters above sea level. The peculiar feature of the exterior of the church is represented by the fascinating duotone created by alternating the use of golden white stone (sandstone) and the dark (basalt).

Between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the complex was slowly but surely abandoned by the church authorities. Only after the Second World War, exactly in 1948, the monk and engineer Agostino Lanzani asked the Benedictines of Parma to open a foundation in Sardinia, it was prelude of the revival of this historic structure.

Since 1950, a community of Benedictine monks lives here. After a slow restructuring, in 1955 the Romanesque church back to its former glory. In 1970 in the monastery, an important book restoration workshop was founded. In 2011, in the former guest quarters of the monastery, the San Pietro di Sorres Museum was opened. So this mystical corner of Sardinia is a favorite destination for visitors.

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