The small country parish church was built in the XIII century, rebuilt in the XVIII century and afterwards restructured again. Between 1865 and 1870, according to what Father Lino Chini relates, Pietro Alessio Chini also took part in this, painting “ in fresco” the image of the titular Saint and the four Evangelists. Today only a few traces remain of this painting, but the church preserves other evidence of the work of the Chinis, of two successive generations.
On the inside, a Baptismal Font in ceramic with shiny metallic decoration in relief, seems to come from the production of the San Lorenzo Furnaces for the Berzieri Thermal Baths in Salsomaggiore (1920 - 1923), where this object can be found again, used as a flower bowl. The furnishings for that complex were realized by the Furnaces from drawings of the architect Ugo Giusti, who worked in close collaboration with Galileo Chini, artistic director of the manufacturing until 1925. It is possible that the font could have already been put in the church in the 20’s, even though it was a custom of the manufacturing to continue producing the various models even many years after their invention, to adapt them to new environments.
A confirmation of this practice is the presence of a similar baptismal font, in a different colour and with slightly smaller dimensions, in the church of San Bartolomeo in Molezzano, near Vicchio. Also in the church, at the right side-altar, an image of the Madonna in plaster is preserved behind glass and framed by a panel of polychromatic tiles with geometrical motifs, these too produced by the Furnaces. On the outside, a memorial stone of the parishioners killed in the first world war is decorated by a relief in Grès modelled by the sculptor Petroni, and by numerous tiles with the names of the fighters remembered and with geometrical decorative motifs of the repertoire of the manufacturing. The monument inaugurated in 1923 utilizes materials of the Furnaces, according to a project which is probably due to Chino Chini, who had taken care of other monuments to the fallen of the area (example: of Luco di Mugello, of the Cavallina, of San Cresci in Valcava, of St. Ansano in Monte Aceraia), most of which were destroyed.
Itinerario Liberty - Planning and Realization - Stefano Pelosi - www.stefanopelosi.it
