Pieve di Beduzzo

The Pieve di Beduzzo is one of the many churches dedicated to San Prospero. The church stands on an isolated hill near Beduzzo, a small village in the not so far from Corniglio, in the province of Parma. The name probably derives from the medieval Latin “bedus”, mill, confirmed by the presence in the territory of the ancient parish church of seven water mills. Today’s parish church was built on the site where once stood a castle that originally belonged to the Rossi family.

The church was completely rebuilt in the mid1700s, with the stones of the castle at that time completely ruined. The original parish church stood in a position not far from the present one and seems to have collapsed following a sudden landslide. There are not many testimonies of the ancient church, with exception of the bell that shows the date of fusion: 1343. This bell is the oldest in the entire territory of the diocese of Parma. The current structure has no rectory and has a long nave that ends with a semicircular apse.

The façade is rather simple: a base in painted bricks and two pilasters delimit it on the sides. Above is a triangular tympanum with a poly-lobed window in the centre. The entrance door is surmounted by a painted lunette. On the left side, detached from the church, stands the stone bell tower, with a square plan, contemporary with the church and raised in 1869.

The interior, with a single nave, is characterized by the presence of two side chapels, one on each side, which is accessed through two round arches.