San Clemente, Neoclassical church in Valdagno, Italy

San Clemente is the parish church of Valdagno, built from 1748 to 1778 to a design by Giovanni Miazzi. Its south-facing gabled facade, added in 1821-1824 by Luigi De Boni, is divided by four pilasters with composite capitals and crowned by a triangular pediment with three statues. Inside is a single nave with side chapels and a 1445 altarpiece by mastro Girolamo.

The parish title is first documented in 1244, when the church was a subsidiary of the pieve of Brogliano. The bell tower was built between 1545 and 1547 under Agostino Andrighetto. The first stone of the new parish church, designed by Giovanni Miazzi, was laid on 14 May 1748 and the building was completed in 1778; the facade by Luigi De Boni followed between 1821 and 1824.

The church is also called the duomo of Valdagno and belongs to the diocese of Vicenza, in the vicariate of Valdagno. Inside, visitors can see the ancona of San Clemente carved in 1445 by mastro Girolamo and 19th-century paintings of scenes from the lives of the saints by the Friulian Lorenzo Rizzi.

The bell tower stands detached from the church by several metres, so look for it separately from the facade. The facade faces south, onto the square; the main portal sits at its centre beneath a semicircular tympanum. The church was fully renovated in 1978 and its exterior facades restored between 2002 and 2003.

The bell tower stands several metres apart from the church and holds nine bells cast in 1966 by the Cavadini firm of Verona. Its onion dome rests on an octagonal drum pierced by single-light windows, an addition made at the end of the 18th century to match the new church.