The Church of San Lorenzo (Santu Laretu) was founded in the 7th century and, with its square trachyte blocks, bears witness to the appeal of Cistercian art.
The façade features a pointed relieving arch over a door with an architrave, enhanced by the natural hues of the local stone and their skilful use. A fine bell-gable with two bells soars above it.
Entering the church, the gaze is immediately drawn to the single nave with an apse and no transept and by the ceiling supported by the wooden trusses. The apse is embellished with a distinctive cross-shaped opening.
On the right wall of the nave, splendid fifteenth-century frescos can be admired, which depict Saints Blaise, Lawrence, Benedict and Christopher. The skilfully blended chromatic nuances of pale green, ochre and brick red are striking.
The altar was built of trachyte while a terracotta floor has replaced the old stone slabs.
The building’s outer perimeter is decorated with double-lintel hanging arches supported by moulded brackets and sculpted with unique motifs: these include a bovine protome, an anthropomorphic mask under the seventh arch on the south side and the figure of a praying man in the apsidal part.
In the church courtyard, which once housed the cemetery, there are five baetyls belonging to the Giants’ Tomb of Sa Pedra Longa.
The largest of these, with a height of almost 1.77 metres, bears a groove on the top that suggests an ancient ritual significance.