Pieve di San Giorgio

 church  Add category

 Upload a photo

Argenta was possibly already a castle in Ravenna's Exarchate period. Before long, however, this community - like Ferrara - had to organise its life around two separate cores: one military/commercial, the other civic/religious.

We thus find its original Romanesque parish church today situated on the opposite bank of the Reno to the township, along the road leading to the Campotto nature reserve. Prominent on the facade of this tiny church, nestling in verdant meadows, is a portal dating from 1122, surmounted by a lunette containing a carved Martyrdom of St. George. Inside are traces of mosaic paving and an altar from the 6th century, when the church was founded by Agnellus, archbishop of Ravenna. The present walls of the church include sections from various periods: the lower part of the apse dates back to the 6th century whilst the lower part of perimeter walls are from the 12th century. The upper part and the buttressing of the vaults, part of which can be seen in the perimeter walls can be dated between 1571 and 1573.
The last restoration was completed in 1971-72.