Church of San Pietro in Oliveto, Renaissance church on Cidneo hill, Brescia, Italy
The Church of San Pietro in Oliveto stands at the end of via del Castello on the eastern slope of the Cidneo hill in Brescia. Its present appearance results from 16th-century remodelling, later restored in the 1960s. The building incorporates an 8th-century Lombard wall remnant in the apse of the San Paolino chapel and two small windows on the facade, later covered by the 16th-century cladding. The church is attached to a monastery now run by Discalced Carmelite friars.
The church's oldest masonry, in the apse of the San Paolino chapel, dates to the 8th century; a Romanesque rebuilding took place between 1112 and 1122 and was consecrated by Pope Eugene III in 1148. In 1487 the complex passed to the Canons of San Giorgio in Alega of Venice, and the present appearance results from 16th-century remodelling under Antonio Medaglia. The order was suppressed in 1668 and the church passed to the Discalced Carmelites, who still run it.
The church's name comes from the olive groves that once covered the Cidneo hill, and the name "in Oliveto" long distinguished it from Brescia's other churches dedicated to Saint Peter. Each Palm Sunday the bishop rode a white horse up from the cathedral for the blessing of the olives, and the Augustinian canons gave bread and wine to the people until Bishop Cavalcano Sala abolished the custom on 16 March 1255. The main altarpiece by Moretto da Brescia shows Saint Peter and Saint Paul receiving the keys to heaven.
The church stands at the end of via del Castello, on the eastern flank of the Cidneo hill, reachable on foot from the city centre. It is an active place of worship run by the Discalced Carmelite friars, so visits should be timed around services. The 1960s restoration left the sixteenth-century layout intact.
The name comes from olive groves that once covered the Cidneo hill until they were destroyed during a medieval siege of the city. This memory of the landscape is preserved in the church's name today.
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