Mores
Mores has been inhabited since the Neolithic period, and important vestiges such as the prehistoric ravines of su Buccu ‘e sas Fadas and su Puttu Porchinu, several domus de Janas, and the dolmen sa Coveccada, a unique site considered one of the largest in the Mediterranean, are still present.
Mores was a judge in the Judgeship of Torres, a region of the Curator of Oppia. The fiefdom, which comprised several now-vanished demesne centres (such as the villages of Lachesos and Todorache), passed into the hands of various feudal lords with the arrival of the Catalan-Aragonese. Following the demise of the Virde family in the 17th century, the Manca family—well-known in Sardinian anti-feudal chronicles—became the rightful owners of the marquisate of Mores, a position they retained until the 1840s.
This family’s fiefs were rocked by the winds of revolution in 1795 when the baronial palace, which served as both the residence of the local feudal lord and the archive for penalties and reprimands meted out to insurgents, was demolished by the vassals in Mores. The palace of Usini, the former home of the Manca-Amat family, was forcibly entered by the villagers on December 31, 1795, in Sassari, along with other weary and starving vassals. Their goal was to destroy the furniture and other tangible remnants of a very affluent life that had been built on the struggles, sacrifices, and misfortunes of the so-called villagers.
During the three-year Sardinian revolutionary period, the brothers Francesco and Giovanni Antonio Areddu were prominent figures. As close followers of Giovanni Maria Angioy, they were imprisoned at various points during the repression, first in the tower of Isola Rossa (Bosa) and then at the more well-known Algherese towers of the Sperone and Porta a terra.
The geographical legacy of Mores’ past includes the long-standing feudal dominion over a large area known as “Sa tanca de su Duca,” which belonged to the Manca family.
The old town centre
Curiosity
The bell tower of St Catherine parish church, one of Sardinia's tallest at 47 metres, is a defining feature of the town.
The tower, a magnificent example of neoclassicism, was built in two phases (1871) to a design by architect Salvatore Calvia-Unali, with exquisite carvings and stuccoes on the pink vulcanite walls.
The streets of the town are dotted with urban palaces, most of which were erected between the 19th and 20th centuries, attesting to the town’s riches, which was gained from land ownership and agro pastoralism.
The Capuchins Convent
Established in 1715, with permission from Antonio Manca-Gaya, Marquis of Mores, it was devoted to Saint Anthony of Padua. On the high altar is a painting that shows Saint Peter giving the saint, who was born in Lisbon, the keys. In one corner of the painting is the feudal lord’s coat of arms. Some sources claim that there was once another painting depicting the marquis; however, it was destroyed at this location towards the end of the eighteenth-century uprisings. The year of the convent’s foundation—one of the last in Spanish Sardinia—is written on an architrave that can be found on the porter’s lintel outside the building.
The Calvia Residence
Local poet and writer Giuseppe Calvia, a popular tradition specialist and prolific columnist for the journal La Nuova Sardegna between the 19th and 20th centuries, bought this classic 19th-century Moorish mansion. The heirs later gave the building to the Mores municipality, where it subsequently served as the foundation for the Civic Museum. The association Litteras Antigas has been in charge of the complex’s management since 2019.
The structure contains a two-story exhibition space. The bottom level features two rooms where visitors can examine the archaeological region, with the first room showcasing prehistory to the Nuragic age and the second room featuring the Roman era to the Middle Ages.
The first room upstairs retells the events of the First and Second World Wars, recalling occurrences and anecdotes of Mores residents who saw the battle first-hand. The final chamber is home to a modest ethnographic exhibition.
Texts
Stefano A. Tedde
Bibliography
A. Areddu, Il Marchesato di Mores, Cagliari 2011;Ass. Litteras Antigas, Casa Calvia, 2020;
T. Cabizzosu, Il Retablo maggiore di Ardara, Sassari 2017;
F. Tedde, Ardara capitale del Giudicato di Torres, Cagliari 1985.
Thanks
Comune di Mores, Convento Frati minori Cappuccini Mores, Associazione Litteras Antigas; Comune di Ardara, Parrocchia N.S. del Regno.
