Santo Stefano in Pane, Romanesque church in Rifredi, Florence, Italy
Santo Stefano in Pane is a church on Via delle Panche in Rifredi, north of Florence's historic centre, built over the remains of a Roman settlement. Its tripartite facade of pietra a filaretto, restored in 1989, carries a glazed terracotta with the Tornabuoni family crest and a rose window, and is preceded by a 16th-century portico on columns supporting a wooden roof. Inside, the three naves have four pointed arches in the older part and round arches in the later section, set on stone piers with chamfered corners; the central nave has exposed wooden trusses and the presbytery cross vaults.
Santo Stefano in Pane predates the year 1000 and stands on the remains of a Roman settlement. It was originally a single nave with a semicircular apse; the present three-nave layout dates to the 12th-13th century. The presbytery was moved east in the 1928-1930 enlargement, and the Romanesque crypt that had stood beneath the old presbytery was reached by a stone stair in the central nave.
The name "in Pane" is of uncertain origin, and the church was also called "di Rifredi", from the Latin rivus frigidus, or "alle Panche", after the embankments once built along the Terzolle stream against floods. The Romanesque crypt is opened for the feast of Saint Stephen on 26 December.
The church faces Via delle Panche in Rifredi, north of Florence's historic centre. The Romanesque crypt under the central nave, reached by a stone stair, opens only on the feast of Saint Stephen on 26 December. The 1973 Michelotto organ stands at the end of the left nave.
The Romanesque crypt survives beneath the nave, reached by a stone stair; it has the form of an oratory with a vault on four octagonal stone pillars, one bearing a pre-Romanesque capital. It is opened only on the feast of Saint Stephen, 26 December.
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