The landscape that accompanies us to the discovery of this parish church is very suggestive, together with the village that hosts it: once a fortified village that served as a garrison along the road that led to Mount Bardone and Fornovo di Taro.

Interesting is the nearby Torrione (now private), perhaps once belonged to the Municipality of Parma and then to the Rossi di Torrechiara and finally to the Sanvitale, a noble family from Sala Baganza.

The Parish Church of San Vitale stands perched on a hill in San Vitale Baganza, a hamlet of Sala Baganza. The parish church was mentioned for the first time in 1005 in the document “Ordo Archipresbiterorum Plebium”. In 1142 the parish church depended on the abbey of San Giovanni Evangelista in Parma, while in 1230 five chapels in the surrounding area depended on the church.

On February 14, 1834, a violent earthquake destroyed the ancient parish church composed of three naves with a trussed roof. The church was then rebuilt in the following years, adapting to the styles and canons of the time.

Today it has a gabled façade on the outside, with a double row of semi-columns with Doric and Ionic capitals that divide it vertically into three parts. The inner nave is covered by barrel vaults while on the sides open the eight chapels, characterized by large round arches. The apsidal presbytery houses the high altar in gilded wood.

CATEGORIA
Hillside parish churches
INDIRIZZO
Via A. Peroni, 8
San Vitale Baganza