Propositura dei Santi Marco e Lorenzo

The Propositura dei Santi Marco e Lorenzo in Poppi combines two historic church titles in an eighteenth-century building. Its restrained interior contains paintings by Francesco Morandini and Jacopo Ligozzi.

Why it matters

The double dedication preserves the union of San Marco with the older institution of San Lorenzo. The church illustrates how a later rebuilding could retain artworks associated with earlier phases of local patronage.

What to notice

A staircase leads to the plain facade. Inside, a single nave, pilasters, vaulting and side chapels create an ordered setting. Morandini's Pentecost and Deposition contrast with Ligozzi's Resurrection of Lazarus, signed and dated 1619. A late-fifteenth-century wooden crucifix is attributed to the circle of the Master of the Crucifix of Bagno di Romagna.

Context and history

San Marco had medieval origins. The eighteenth-century reconstruction and the union of titles in 1784 gave the church its later identity. Earlier paintings and sculpture remained within the renewed setting, connecting late medieval and Renaissance devotional art with the plaster, stucco and architectural order of the rebuilt interior.