Chiesa di Santa Croce

Santa Croce is Fontanellato's parish church, developed from an early-fifteenth-century Sanvitale foundation. Its paintings and carved furnishings preserve later family and parish patronage within a building substantially restored in 1912.

Why it matters

The church links the Sanvitale household with the religious life of the borgo. Its development from a family chapel into a parish institution extended that association beyond the original patrons.

What to notice

A Birth of the Virgin is attributed to Giovanni Bresciani. Other works include Antonio Nasini's Discovery of the True Cross of 1689 and Giulio Seletti's carved Dead Christ of 1714. The presbytery altar is attributed to Alberto Oliva, while the choir stalls bear a dedication to Count Federico Sanvitale dated 1696. The sacristy preserves Giovanbattista Tinti's Miracle of the Snow.

Context and history

Stefano Sanvitale endowed the chapel in 1447. It became a provosture in 1503 and developed full parish status through subsequent arrangements. Early-sixteenth-century enlargement and later furnishing campaigns preceded Lamberto Cusani's restoration of 1912, which removed Baroque additions in favour of a Gothic-revival appearance.