The small country church of Santa Vitalia, named after the Sardinian martyr to whom the people of Simala are particularly devoted, lies just outside the town at the top of the Santu Giuanni hill, where the church of San Giovanni Battista once stood, the small cemetery of which contained the remains of the deceased until February 1839.
The sacred building was erected to honour the Saint following the donation of land owned by the Simala judge, Eugenio Cancedda, and was mentioned as early as 1892 in a priest’s plea for “more space to accommodate the many faithfuls who arrive in Simala every year from nearby towns to celebrate the cult of the Saint”.
The small, single-nave sanctuary was consecrated in 1910 and many of the Simala people contributed money and farm produce, first for its construction and later for its maintenance, as reported in documents transcribed in 1896 by the priest Don Eugenio Fonnèsu.
In past times, Saint Vitalia, known in the Sardinian language as Santa Vida, was celebrated twice a year in Simala: on the 14th of May to commemorate the day in 1891 when the statue arrived and on the first Monday of October, still observed today.
The May festival was known as the Santa Vida de is pastoris since it had been shepherds or, in any event, owners of sheep, who put up the money and donated a lamb in honour of the Saint every year. These gifts eventually made up a small flock but, by the end of the sixties, no trace of it remained.
