The church of San Nicola preserves the beautiful Pala of Ottana

The Romanesque church of San Nicola towers over the scene of the small center of Ottana (Barbagie), also thanks to well-finished arrangement works of the flower-beds below. Built in the XII century with blocks of white and red trachyte, on a pre-existing byzantine church, has a “crux commissa” plant.

Simple but fascinating, the church preserves the renowned “Pala of Ottana”, a wood painting in the first half of the XIV century, in which is represented the young Mariano IV nominated the heir of the Giudicato of Arborea. The polyptych shows some salient episodes of the life of Saint Francisco d' Assisi and San Nicola of Mira.

Ottana has been the bishop's seat for five centuries: in 1502 it was joined to those of Castro and Bisarcio, and then annexed to the bishopric of Alghero.