Parteolla

Few kilometres from Cagliari, the chief town of the region, the territory of Parteolla stretches out, bordering with the Campidano, the Sarrabus and the Gerrei. Characterised by a great variety of landscape, as the Sardinian historian Giovanni Farà pointed out when he described it as partly mountainous, partly level and cultivated, irrigated by short watercourses.

Given the make up of the ground, there is intense agriculture and sheep farming activity: thus the production of oils, wines and cheeses are particularly rich, appreciated and variegated in their specificities.

Dolianova was a diocesan centre, electing San Pantaleo as patron in the honour of whom, at the end of the 12th century, the cathedral was erected, one of the most unusual - for its architecture and surrounding landscape - of the whole of Sardinia. Different styles alternate, that betray the different phases of elaboration, but they result in a well harmonized all: so the mature Romanesque style pleasantly lives alongside the Gothic.

The town is also the centre of the winery of the same name, in which wines of high quality are produced given the fertility of the land and its suitability to grapevine cultivation: thus the wines of Nuragus, Vermentino, and Cannonau are made, but also dessert wines such as Moscato, Nasco and Malvasia.

The name of nearby Serdiana, a town probably of Roman origin, is connected with the small rural church of Santa Maria di Sibiola, equally of ancient foundation (12th century), in the vicinity of which, lithic material from prehistoric times has been recovered.