The parish church of Santa Maria Assunta rises on the top of a hill about one kilometre from the small hamlet of Sasso in Neviano degli Arduini. Cited in the document “Ordo Presbiteriorum Plebium” of 1005, according to tradition it was rebuilt in 1082 by the Countess Matilde di Canossa.
Here the Countess went to follow the horse mass. Externally, the parish church has a naked facade with salient features, a mullioned window built during a renovation and, higher up, a small opening in the shape of a Greek cross. Inside, the church is divided into three naves, the central one being wider and higher than the lateral ones, and has a trussed roof.
Of considerable importance is the baptismal font located to the left of the entrance. The font was reassembled in 1960 by joining some pieces of ambo probably dating back to 1099. Only four of the eight faces are original, namely: the blessing cleric, the angel (symbol of the evangelist Matthew), the figure of a griffin with a dove, the winged lion (symbol of St. Mark).
They are particularly refined artefacts, which made scholars think that they were linked to a noble patronage, perhaps in contact with tombstones that worked in Parma or Nonantola (they are works after the construction of the church, mid-12th century). The slab inside the church is moving: “I, a priest, Justin, had this ambo remade in 1099; whoever reads it prays for me, a sinner”.
Neviano degli Arduini
