Church of S. Facondino and its tower

The ancient church of San Facondino arose after the death of the holy eponymous bishop, which took place on 28 August 607. According to the ancient legend, immediately after the death of San Facondino, a heavenly messenger appeared to an inhabitant of Tadino in a dream, announcing sad news. The messenger ordered the man to drive a chariot pulled by two "indomitable bulls" near the place of the bishop's death and place the body there, then to spur the animals and identify the point where they would stop their race. In this place was built the church that received the remains of the bishop of the Tadinate, which quickly became a destination for pilgrimages from all over the territory. This sanctuary, however, was destroyed during the frequent barbarian incursions and the present church was rebuilt not far in the eleventh century; here the bones of the saint were transferred and in place of the primitive temple a large fragment of a round column was erected surmounted by a stone cross, now no longer existing. It seems that the German Emperor Henry II also took part in the construction of this new church and in the 13th century it was even the seat of an episcopal chair. The appearance of the Church of S. Facondino has substantially changed over the centuries, due to numerous modifications and extensions; to testify its medieval origins stands the bell tower from the features of a tower dating back to before the year one thousand, built with material from the previous early Christian church. Internally the church consists of a single nave divided into three bays: two with a cross vault and one with a barrel vault; each bay was built in a different era and the most recent part is the apse. Originally its walls were completely frescoed, but at present only the S. Rocco and S. Antonio da Padova of Matteo da Gualdo, the S. Anna with the Virgin and Child by Bernardo da Gualdo and the Baptism of Christ of the Seventeenth century; the current decoration is the work of Pico Discepoli (1932). As for the other works belonging to S. Facondino we find two paintings: the Madonna del Rosario of the seventeenth century and the S. Facondino in prayer by the Eugubino painter Giuseppe Reposati; finally a nineteenth-century baptismal font by Vincenzo Scassellati. On the main altar was placed a polyptych of the Master of Fossato depicting the Madonna enthroned with the Child and two angels, surrounded by saints and apostles dating back to the fifteenth century and currently kept at the civic art gallery.This church also belonged to a parchment cod XIV century containing the life of S. Facondino, now belonging to the Vatican Library.