The parish church of San Nicomede
The oldest church dedicated to the martyr
Documented since the 9th century, it is the oldest church dedicated to Saint Nicomedes in northern Italy and the main centre for spreading the cult of the martyr. The current building, with a single hall covered by trusses and containing an apse and crypt, is the result of the layering of different construction phases.
The oldest part, the crypt, dates back to the earliest founding of the church, perhaps from the 9th century; the apse, with its central buttress, dates back to the 13th century, while the hall was built in the 14th century, as attested by the inscription above the entrance.
The building took on its current appearance in 1909, when the hall was decorated with two-tone bands and the bell tower and façade were rebuilt in the 15th-century style, with the addition of a small portico, rose window, dentil cornice and three pinnacles.
Inside, the crypt bears witness to a fairly widespread practice in the early Middle Ages, that of recovering and reusing elements of previous buildings.
Possibly built in the 9th century, the small three-nave crypt is supported by four columns, two fluted from Roman times and two from the Lombard period. In the apse of the crypt, there is a well, whose water is believed to grant miracles.
The marble slabs of the crypt floor and the wellhead are also architectural elements from Roman times that have been recovered and reused.
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