The parish church of Traversetolo, dedicated to San Martino, stands on a river terrace at the foot of the first hills in the municipality of the same name. The first written evidence of the parish church comes from a document dated 1005 in which it is mentioned in the “Ordo Archipresbiterorum Plebium”.
Today very little remains of the ancient Romanesque building, there are only a few sandstone ashlars, a capital, the lunette of lions and an ancient altar table. The lion’s lunette dates back to the 11th century and symbolises the struggle for good, the lions which are the expression of Christ’s strength, against sin and evil.
The symmetrical facade, entirely covered with bricks and stone ashlars with prothyrum and central rose window, is surmounted by a pediment that overlooks the roof of the nave, while the sides are flanked by the bodies of the aisles with sloping roof to a pitched.
The parish church has a basilical shape with three naves divided by ten columns. The scheme and the construction system follow the traditional ones with the revival of the Romanesque style: use of round arches resting on stone columns and windows that illuminate the nave higher than the side aisles, trussed roofs, wooden beams and joists painted above the nave; cross vaults on the side aisles; trussed system and beams on the transept; cross vaults on the presbytery. The latter is raised above the rest of the church.
Traversetolo
