The name derives from Etruscula, a village founded perhaps in the times of the Roman Republic, or more likely from truiscu, 'mountain pepper', a herbaceous plant that thrived in the hills surrounding the village, used to clean donkeys and horses. Villanova Truschedu, the setting of the Flavio Soriga's novel 'Sardinia Blues', is a characteristic village with 300 inhabitants lying in the hinterland of Oristano in the territory of Barigadu, on the banks of the river Tirso. The historic town of this charming and welcoming village, structured around the parish church of Sant’Andrea Apostolo, is known as Ruinas, indicating the ruins of a Roman village, located along the road that connected Forum Traiani to the Campidano plain, playing a strategic economic and military role. The most fascinating place of worship is the late-Romanesque Sanctuary di san Gemiliano, characterised by the muristenes or cumbessias, small houses used by the faithful during the novenas for the saint celebrated in September, whilst the patron Sant'Andrea, is celebrated in late November.