The landing of Santa Lucia is located south of the Port of Posada and it seems that the port of Saint Lucia was a reference point among the port facilities of lower Gallura during the thirteenth century. The landing must have stood near tower 1 and the church named after Saint Lucia, which are still visible in the same name location in Siniscola. Today’s church was built in the late nineteenth century in place of the older one, which was demolished because of its totally neglected condition.

There is a connection between the churches dedicated to Santa Lucia and the ports, particularly in the coastal cities of central and southern Italy, where communities from Pisa are firmly established. There is some evidence of this relationship in Sardinia: in Siniscola there is a sacred building dedicated to the martyr from Syracuse, where a very important port was located during the Middle Ages. Further south, in Orosei, another church of Santa Lucia is located near Pisa’s ancient merchant colony. In the Marina district of Cagliari there are also the ruins of the church of Santa Lucia of Civita or Bagnaria. The connection between the martyr and the port facilities acquires greater significance when you consider that within the Byzantine world, Santa Lucia is depicted with a cup in her hand from which a flame comes out, which refers to the function lighthouses had for navigation.

Fig. 1 - Church of Santa Lucia in the same name location in Siniscola (from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Santa_Lucia_Siniscola_Nuoro_Sardegna5.JPG).

Fig. 2 - Church of Santa Lucia in Orosei (from http://photos.wikimapia.org/p/00/01/59/17/11_big.jpg).

Fig. 3 - Church of Santa Lucia at the Marina in Cagliari (from CADINU, 2012 fig. 2).