Chiesa di San Giorgio

The church of San Giorgio stands on a rocky spur above Tellaro. Built over the remains of a Genoese fortification and consecrated in 1584, it is the borgo's historic mother church.

Why it matters

San Giorgio is Tellaro's historic mother church, heir to a medieval predecessor documented from 1152. Its position on the rocky spur above the sea gives the building a central place in the borgo's religious and civic history. A local legend tells of an octopus ringing the bells to warn of a corsair raid; the story remains part of the church's place in Tellaro's cultural memory.

What to notice

The church's masonry rises from the remains of a Genoese fortification. Inside, the Diocese of La Spezia's parish listing identifies a sixteenth-century low-relief marble altarpiece, marbles that may have come from the earlier church of San Giorgio at Barbazzano, and a baroque baptismal font. A medieval panel now kept at Stella Maris originally hung here; its subject is closely associated with the village, and its anonymous painter is conventionally named after it.

Context and history

The diocesan record traces Tellaro's parish to San Giorgio di Barbazzano, an inland church remembered in 1152, when Genoa asserted rights over it. By 1238 the site had walls and a castle; in the thirteenth century the church was a dependency of the Pieve di Ameglia. The last rector of Barbazzano, Giuseppe Sonino, was succeeded by Vincenzo Malfanti, the first rector of Tellaro, marking the transfer of the parish to the coast. The present sixteenth-century church was consecrated in 1584 on the site of a Genoese fortification. The octopus-and-bells story is a legend associated with its history.