In the territory of Quartu Sant'Elena, intensely inhabited from prehistoric to Byzantine times, the prior of San Saturno already owned the church of Santa Maria di Cepola.
The name, of uncertain etymology, derives from the toponym documented in several variants in medieval sources. The title Sancte Marie de Sapullo was donated in 1089 by the Cagliaritan judge Constantine Salusio II to the Victorian monks of Marseilles and is attested among their possessions until 1218.
The building preserves the north-eastern apse and sections of the perimeter walls of the protoromanesque structure that denote manners referable to craftsmen active in the Giudicato of Cagliari between the late 11th and early 12th century.
The structure is single-naved with a wooden roof; in the preserved section of the masonry, made of medium to large limestone ashlars, there is a centred portal; the apse has a lowered frontal arch due to the raising of the floor level compared to the original one. In all likelihood, the façade was decorated with small arches, one of which, with a double lancet ring cut flush, is preserved in the surrounding garden.