Pieve di Fontevivo

The Abbey of San Bernardo in Fontevivo was founded in 1142 by 12 monks from the Abbey of Chiaravalle della Colomba (Alseno, Piacenza), as part of a land reclamation initiative promoted by the Marquises Pallavicino di Busseto.

The church now visible, made of brick, was built around the middle of the thirteenth century to replace a previous building.

The gabled facade is divided into three parts by two octagonal pillars; in the central part you can see the portal, slightly projecting, and the rose window, above which run the arches. The wings of the facade are instead devoid of these arches, perhaps because unfinished. Above the rose window there is a cross carved in the masonry, as in the mother abbey of Chiaravalle della Colomba, which probably also inspired the Latin cross plan with a large transept.

In the sides, characterized by imposing buttresses, we find the same arches of the facade.

The interior is divided into three naves by large polystyle pillars, at the intersection of the transept and the nave there is a dome cordoned. The square apse, which concludes the nave, is covered by a cross vault.

Inside, in a niche in the wall on the right side of the church, there is a statue of “Madonna with Child” attributed to Benedetto Antelami and dated 1190: you can still see traces of color, especially on the mantle of the Virgin.

In the left arm of the transept are the tombs of Guido Pallavicino, benefactor of the monastery and knight Templar (a slab in bas-relief), and Ferdinand of Bourbon, last Duke of Parma.