Saint Nicholas church, Romanesque church in Assenza, Italy

Saint Nicholas church is a Romanesque church building in Assenza with a single nave that narrows toward the rectangular choir, marked by two Gothic arches from the 1400s. Inside, exposed roof trusses in the nave give way to a double cross vault with Gothic sails above the choir section.

First documented in 1159, when Pope Adrian IV listed it among chapels subject to the pieve of Santo Stefano di Malcesine. In the 1200s the building was lengthened eastward and a new apse built. In the 1400s it was enlarged west and south, the facade rebuilt in Gothic style, the 13th-century apse demolished and today's presbytery constructed; it then passed to the parish of San Giovanni Battista di Magugnano.

The walls inside display frescoes from the late 13th century and 1322, showing how religious art evolved across different periods.

The church faces east, with its Gothic facade and pointed-arch portal on the front; a secondary entrance opens on the north side. The bell tower stands set back against the right side of the presbytery. The interior is a single hall on a rectangular plan that narrows on the right toward the raised presbytery.

The 1530 pastoral visit of Bishop Gian Matteo Giberti found the church used as a warehouse and for grinding grain, and it was threatened with suspension; the roof was rebuilt by 1532. Look for the altarpiece of the Madonna with Child, Saints Nicholas and Anthony Abbot and the donor, painted between 1541 and 1595 and close to the style of Ligozzi.