Sant'Appiano, Romanesque church in Barberino Tavarnelle, Italy.
Sant'Appiano is a pieve in Barberino Val d'Elsa with a three-nave layout under a wooden roof. The left nave arcades, the apse with Lombard arches and the raised nave date to the 10th–11th century; the right arcades were rebuilt in brick after the bell tower collapsed in 1171, with slender forms and capitals carved with stylized leaves and realistic human faces.
The church came under the control of the Bishop of Florence in 990 and underwent its first major change when the bell tower collapsed in 1171. This collapse led to the reconstruction of the right aisle.
The church is dedicated to Saint Appiano, credited by tradition with evangelising the Valdelsa. In the 14th century 24 suffragan churches answered to it, and its revenues, often exempt from taxes by apostolic concession, drew ambitious prelates; the parish priest Gualtiero was a papal delegate in 1268. The Gherardini family of Florence held patronage and supplied several parish priests.
The church stands in the hamlet of Sant'Appiano, in the municipality of Barberino Val d'Elsa. The remains of the baptistery, four pillars, were set out on the square in front of the church between 1891 and 1893, so they are seen outdoors before entering. The cloister of the 12th century, with square pillars and Ionic columns, is on the south side against the canonica.
The four surviving pillars of the baptistery were set out on the square in front of the church between 1891 and 1893, after the earthquake of 1805 had brought the building down. The pieve is the only church in the Florentine countryside that keeps the remains of a baptistery standing apart from the church itself.
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