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Church of Saint Anthony of Padua

Church of Saint Anthony of Padua

The church devoted to Saint Anthony from Padua is just at the edge between the old town of Cervia and the new settlement, past the bridge over the canal, along the salt storehouses.

Church of St Anthony of Padua - Ph. Fabio Panzavolta

 

Built between 1704 and 1741, this church is outside the urban perimeter of Cervia Nuova and looks onto the Salt Pans Canal.

Facade of the Church of St Anthony of Padua

 

 

 

 

It is the Franciscan church of the Minori Osservanti, built with a convent attached, using some of the stones recovered after the demolition of the Madonna del Pino Carmelite Convent, when the friars had to leave their premises in the Old Town.

The church has a fairly small single-nave longitudinal plan, which looks even smaller because of the two symmetric recesses in the middle.
Its façade includes classical architectonic elements, such as column, entablature and gable, which were developed later during the neoclassical period; a 20 m tall bell tower was subsequently added to the church.

 

Inside the church Sant'Antonio da Padova

 

 

The hall, divided into three bays, has a square presbytery as backdrop, with a marble altar in the middle, including a niche which contains an 18th century wooden statue of Saint Anthony.

Also worthy of note is the depiction of the Nativity of the Virgin (mid 18th century) by Giuseppe Milani.

There are two other paintings inside the church: the Madonna of the Franciscans, by Cesare Pronti, a painter from Cattolica (late 17th-early 18th century) and The Infant Jesus Rex Mundi with Saints Luigi Gonzaga and Catherine of Bologna, by Andrea Barbiani (18th century).

 

church detail, bas-relief

Near the entrance, the many votive offerings bear witness to the devotion of people from Cervia and holiday-makers to this church, which in the past was attended by the poorest sections of the population: fishermen, sailors and salt workers.

 

Exterior church St. Anthony of Padua

 

Sant’Antonio da Padova was the first religious complex built after the Cathedral, to complete the New Town project which had been started about a decade earlier by the meritorious Bishop Riccamonti and Earl Maffei.
It was inaugurated by its first Superior, Father Francesco Antonio from Rimini, on 23 May 1706, but it was completed, with the Convent, only in 1720, then dedicated to the Virgin Mary and to Saint Anthony of Padua.

 

Where: Viale Giuseppe Di Vittorio 6, Cervia

Opening: yearly

Admission: free

 

Church of St Anthony of Padua - Ph. Fabio Panzavolta


Contacts

Don Antonio Maffei
0544 72348
Chiudi menu
Tourist Information

www.turismo.comunecervia.it - #VisitCervia - iatcervia@cerviaturismo.it - +39 0544 974400