Chiesa Parrocchiale di San Martino (Seborga)

The Parish Church of San Martino stands in the centre of Seborga. Built around 1615 and dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, it was raised to parish status in 1749. Its baroque façade was restored in 2006, and the church remains a focal point of the village’s historic centre.

Why it matters

San Martino combines a seventeenth-century parish church with later furnishings and decorative work. The national heritage catalogue records it as a parish church from the seventeenth century and attributes it to local workshops. The bell tower was added in the second half of the eighteenth century, marking a later phase in the building’s development.

What to notice

The façade carries frescoed images of Christ the Redeemer and Saint Michael, first painted by A. Laura in 1928 and highlighted during the 2006 restoration. Inside, the central altar is dedicated to Saint Martin, with side altars for the Madonna of the Rosary and the Sacred Heart. A baptismal font and confessional stand near the entrance. The walls hold seventeenth-century paintings, including Saint Sebastian with Saint Petronilla and Saint Martin with Saint Bernard; statues of Saint Martin and Saint Sebastian are also present.

Behind the main altar, a niche holds a wooden Madonna Regina with Child. The sculpture is dated to the sixteenth century, though its style recalls fifteenth-century Burgundian art and its precise chronology is difficult to interpret.

Context and history

The church was built around 1615 by the Genoese architect Arturo Fieschi and dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. It became the parish church in 1749. The later bell tower dates to the second half of the eighteenth century. Together, these stages and the church’s devotional furnishings trace the development of Seborga’s parish centre over several centuries.