Chiesa di Sant'Andrea Apostolo

Sant'Andrea Apostolo is the church of Villa Inferno in Cervia's rural hinterland. Rebuilt around 1860, it carries the memory of a pieve recorded in the twelfth century within a later neoclassical building.

Why it matters

The church records the older religious organisation of the countryside beyond the modern seaside settlements. Its nineteenth-century reconstruction and subsequent enlargements show how a rural place of worship changed without losing its dedication.

What to notice

Pilasters divide the facade into three sections, with a triangular pediment above the wider centre. The interior combines a timber-truss roof and lunette windows with side additions made in the early twentieth century. Arched openings separate the right aisle from the main space, while the presbytery is accompanied by chapels dedicated to the Virgin and the Blessed Sacrament. An apse mosaic depicts Saint Andrew; a painted wooden crucifix forms another devotional focus.

Context and history

The medieval reference concerns an earlier pieve, not the surviving nineteenth-century fabric. Side aisles were added in the early twentieth century. The bell tower of 1920 suffered damage from lightning and wartime events and was later completed with a crenellated top.