Church of San Vito

san-vito-icona

Church of San Vito

According to some local scholars, the church of San Vito di Lovertino dates back to before the year 1000 and belonged to the Benedictines of Nonantola who lived in the nearby monastery of San Silvestro.

The chapel is named after the saint martyr Vito, whose cult, very dear to the agricultural world before the year 1000, was introduced by the Benedictines and the Christianized Lombards. The most interesting part of the sacellum is the apse, which is what remains of the early church. The façade, with a small bell tower, was altered in the first half of the fifteenth century, as shown by a beautiful monogram of Christ carved on the architrave of the central door. The monolithic table of the altar is beautiful, supported by a carriage of marble from the late Roman period. The church belonged for a long time to the Pigafetta family whom, on several occasions, foresaw in their testament provisions sums of money for its maintenance. In 1747, Atalanta Godi Piovene, who had inherited the oratory and large estates from the Countess Euriema Pigafetta, her maternal ancestor, left a legacy of 24 ducats so that she could have an altarpiece painted for her little church. The task was given to the Vicentine painter Costantino Pasqualotto who painted a canvas still present inside the sacellum, depicting the saints Vito and Modesto. The canvas was restored in 1996. The church during the last century suffered a degradation that seemed irreversible, to the point that the roof had collapsed. Thanks to the intervention of the municipal administration of Albettone and other bodies, this small jewel of art and faith was inaugurated and blessed by the bishop, Msgr. Pietro Nonis in 1994, on the occasion of his pastoral visit to the parish of Lovertino.