There are very few examples of this unusual structure on the Island and it represents very rare evidence of the stylistic transition from Byzantine to Romanesque architecture. The church of Santa Croce stands on the northeastern edge of the village of Ittireddu, almost at the foot of the extinct volcano of Monte Liseri. It is likely that the town emerged around the church and, therefore, its origin would be in the Byzantine era. The first settlement can, in fact, be dated back to the 8th-11th century: it probably consisted of a building with a Greek cross layout and an apse on the east arm. Between the 12th and 13th centuries, a second construction phase took place, during which the west arm was extended and two other small apses were built on the eastern wall of the transept arms, although some suggest that the construction of the ‘apsidioles’ can be attributed to a pre-Romanesque phase. So, the church acquired its current Latin cross layout, with the distinctive feature of a transept that is narrower than the nave. Therefore, at the point where the arms cross, there is not a square but a rectangle, making a dome roof impossible - typical of Byzantine churches - replaced here by a barrel-vaulted tiburio dome.