San Siro di Struppa, Romanesque church in Struppa, Genoa, Italy.
San Siro di Struppa is a Romanesque church in Genoa built in sandstone with a central rose window and a multi-aisle layout supported by stone columns. The bell tower features triple-mullioned windows and decorative Lombard bands along the upper walls, characteristic of the period's architectural style.
A church existed here perhaps since the 5th century, near the reputed birthplace of Saint Syrus, but it is first documented in 955. In 1025 Bishop Landulf II of Genoa gave it to the Benedictines, who built a monastery church; by the late 11th century the monks had moved to Sant'Eusebio. The present Romanesque building was probably rebuilt in the 12th century, when the pieve held jurisdiction over six rectories.
The church is named for Saint Syrus, bishop of Genoa in the 4th century, who according to tradition was born on this spot; the surrounding hamlet at 168 m was once part of the Benedictine abbey. The main artwork is a polyptych of Saint Syrus dated 1516, once attributed to Teramo Piaggio and now assigned to Pier Francesco Sacchi. The parish belongs to the "Medio - Alto Bisagno" vicariate of the Archdiocese of Genoa.
The church stands at 168 m above sea level in the small hamlet of San Siro, above Molassana in the Bisagno valley; the old valley road ran along the slope here, not on the valley floor, to avoid the torrent's floods. The forecourt was repaved in 1988 with a risseu of white and grey pebbles, and the bronze door of 1963 hangs on the original medieval hinges.
The church stands near the spot where, by tradition, Saint Syrus of Genoa was born; he was bishop of Genoa in the 4th century. The nearby oratory of Sant'Alberto and Sant'Antonio Abate is identified by historians as the third monastic church built in the 11th century.
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