Santi Bartolomeo e Michele, Baroque church in Roccabianca, Italy
Santi Bartolomeo e Michele is a brick church in Roccabianca with a single nave flanked by three shallow chapels on each side. Its plastered facade has four Doric pilasters, a central rose window and two Baroque spires. The interior has cross vaults, Rococo stuccoes with shell motifs and a tall neo-Gothic bell tower at the rear.
This church was founded in 1576 and underwent significant baroque modifications in the late 1600s. Rococo stucco work added in the early 1700s further enriched its interior decorations.
The double dedication recalls the two medieval parishes of Tolarolo and Arzenoldo, merged by Pope Pius VI in 1794. Inside, the shell motifs in the Rococo stuccoes are the heraldic symbol of the Rangoni marquises, who financed the church. The first chapel on the left holds the black marble slab of Lucia Scotti, wife of commissioner Giulio Rangoni, who died before the building was finished.
The church faces Piazza Giuseppe Garibaldi, the square at the centre of Roccabianca, with the entrance on the west side and the presbytery at the east end. The nave is flanked by three shallow chapels on each side, and the passages between them were reopened during the 1997–1998 restoration. The neo-Gothic bell tower, clad in brick, rises at the rear of the building.
The shell-shaped stuccoes inside are the heraldic symbol of the Rangoni marquises, who commissioned the church. The first chapel on the left holds the black marble tombstone of Lucia Scotti, wife of Giulio Rangoni, who died before the building was finished.
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