The Pieve di Pedrignano, also known as San Vitale dei Monaci, is located a few kilometers from the city of Parma. The name San Vitale dei Monaci is given by the fact that this place was lived as a delight by the Benedictine monks of San Giovanni Evangelista in Parma.

Built between 1507 and 1509 by Bernardino Zaccagni, the church stands on the perimeter of the previous one of which, however, no trace remains. The first evidence of the presence of the church, belonging to the Benedictine Monks, are found in the Decimens of 1230 which: “ecclesia Sancti Iohannis de Pedregnano”.

The church is made of exposed brick, has a gabled facade marked by four pilasters and ended by a frame with plant motifs broken at the top by a second horizontal frame with sawtooth bricks that creates movement and breaks the verticality of the whole. In the centre, in line with the architraved portal and bordered by two terracotta candelabra, there is an oculus.

On the south side, at the height of the apse, stands the bell tower with a square plan with a belfry opened by four large single lancet windows and concluded by a small spire surrounded by four spires. The interior has a single nave with a polygonal apse that recovers from the nave. The vault of the hall is barrel vaulted, while in the apse there is a sail dome. In the nave there are two side altars in red marble made in 1944.

The church was dedicated to St. John the Baptist, the Prophet who announced Jesus Christ in the womb of Mary and baptized him. The Corinthian capital (of Roman origin? of reuse?) inside is particular, reversed and used as a baptismal font.

CATEGORIA
Plain parish churches
INDIRIZZO
Strada Traversante, 39
43122 Pedrignano