Saint Stephen church, Gothic church in Santo Stefano, Fornace, Italy

Saint Stephen church in Fornace displays International Gothic architecture with slender forms, a pointed portal, and a central oculus on its gabled facade. The interior features a vaulted presbytery and polygonal apse that shape the spatial experience.

The building was first recorded in 1232 as a church dedicated to Saint Cyprian and acquired its current appearance through reconstruction in the late 1400s. The bell tower from an earlier period was simply heightened at that time.

The church was long known as San Cipriano before its 1502 reconsecration as Santo Stefano. Inside, the presbytery vault carries early 16th-century frescoes: the wise and foolish virgins on the chancel arch, attributed to Corrado da Pergine, and the four Evangelists, four Doctors of the Church and Saints Lucy and Clare in the ribs, with God the Father at the centre. The altarpiece shows the Madonna crowned by angels with Saints Martin, Stephen, Cyprian, Jerome and Anthony Abbot, attributed to the school of Farinati.

The church stands at the northeastern end of Santo Stefano, on raised ground slightly apart from the houses. The cemetery that once surrounded it is gone; burials from Lona stopped in 1685 and from Lases around 1730. The building is oriented to the east, with the main gabled facade facing west and a side entrance on the south flank sheltered by a small canopy.

The interior was decorated with 16th-century frescoes by Corrado da Pergine that illustrate religious scenes from that period. These wall paintings give the presbytery and apse a personal artistic character reflecting local artistic tradition.