Nostra Signora Assunta e Santa Zita, Renaissance Revival church in Foce district, Genoa, Italy.
Nostra Signora Assunta e Santa Zita is a church located in Genoa between Via di Santa Zita and Corso Buenos Aires, displaying Florentine Renaissance Revival design with carefully crafted architectural details. The building features a distinctly shaped facade and a thoughtfully planned interior layout typical of late 19th-century religious structures.
The first church on the Bisagno banks was built in the 13th century by Lucchese wool and silk merchants and dedicated to the Volto Santo. It was rebuilt in 1452 after a flood and restored in 1833. Borgo Pila became an autonomous parish on 7 July 1874 under Monsignor Salvatore Magnasco, approved by the Holy See on 10 January 1876. The present church was begun in 1893 on land donated in 1879 by Maria Brignole Sale De Ferrari, Duchess of Galliera; Archbishop Tommaso Reggio laid the first stone on 12 November 1893.
The church keeps two works inherited from the older Santa Zita: the statue of the Madonna di Città and a canvas by Valerio Castello showing the Miracle of Santa Zita. The dedication to Zita, a Lucchese virgin canonised in 1278, recalls the wool and silk merchants from Lucca who settled by the Bisagno.
The interior of the church is generally accessible to visitors during regular opening hours and religious observances. It is advisable to check information about current schedules in advance to ensure a visit is possible.
The 16th-century portal of the demolished church was saved and set into the rear of the present building. Its architrave carries three statues by Paracca: a Crucifix flanked by the Madonna and Saint John the Baptist, moved here from an altar that no longer exists.
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