First recorded in January 1177 as S. Martini in Arzonis,[1] the first, medieval church was located in the area of the present-day Fontanelle, south of Riccione.[2] After the church was destroyed by an earthquake on Christmas Day 1786,[1][3] San Martino was rebuilt at its present location on Corso Fratelli Cervi;[1][3][4] the church was consecrated on 8 November 1789.[1][3] It includes the shrine of Blessed Alessio Monaldi, who has been venerated in Riccione since 1578.[5][6]
To accommodate Riccione's growing population, a NewChurch of San Martino (Italian: Chiesa nuova di San Martino) was consecrated on 10 March 1963.[7][8] Located on Viale Diaz, which runs between the old town and the railway station, the larger, modern church is less than 280 metres (310 yards) away from the old church as the crow flies.[9]
Both churches are dedicated to St Martin of Tours. Together with the churches of San Francesco (in Fontanelle, consecrated 1982) and Santa Caterina (in Raibano, consecrated 1988), they constitute Riccione's parish of San Martino.[8]
History
The first mention of S. Martini in Arzonis dates to January 1177.[1] A deed of sale, dated 20 April 1217, records San Martino as a chapel within the parish of San Lorenzo in Strada.[1][3][10] It was located in the area of the present-day Fontanelle, south of Riccione along an eponymous stream, on a hill known as Cavrèt d'arvura.[2][3][7] The medieval church contained one nave and three altars, dedicated to San Martino in Arcione, the Rosary, and Blessed Alessio Monaldi.[1]
On Christmas Day 1786, an earthquake destroyed the medieval church.[1][3] Work to rebuilt the church began on 10 November 1787,[3][11] under the direction of Sante Mazzotti, with donations from Michelangelo Almeri and the Mattioli family.[3] The new church was built on Corso Fratelli Cervi, within the growing town to the north of the original site, along the ancient Via Flaminia.[1][3][4][7] Almeri had donated the necessary land to the Olivetans at the Scolca Abbey, who administered the parish.[3]
The new church was consecrated on 8 November 1789.[1][3] In 1827, the church was equipped with a baptismal font; in 1855, a cemetery was added to its left side.[4][3] In the following decades, the sacristy was built, the belltower restored, the interior painted, and the altarpiece installed. The chapel of San Giuseppe was added on the site of the old cemetery in 1877.[3][11]
The church was restored in 1989.[4] The restoration included raising the anchoring of the bells in the belltower.[11]
Features
The church's belltower is located in the corner between the presbytery and the main altar. It is 19 metres (62 feet) high, and houses three bells.[11]
The interior of the old church in May 2010
The late-18th-century altarpiece in the chapel dedicated to Blessed Alessio Monaldi records the legend that he found water for pilgrims. Two thirsty pilgrims are depicted on the left, while on the right, Monaldi makes the ox goad to make the spring flow, accompanied by two angels. The painter is unknown, but may have been the work of Ligorio Donati, a former apprentice of Giovan Battista Costa[fr], Agostino Masucci, and Tommaso Conca, who was active in the rural areas of Rimini.[12]
Blessed Alessio Monaldi
The church contains the shrine of Blessed Alessio Monaldi, who has been venerated in a marble tomb since 1578.[5][6] The medieval church also included a chapel dedicated to him.[1]
Monaldi was born in 1473.[13] According to legend, he was a poor and virtuous farmer, who was mocked for his religious observance and humility.[14] Several legends have been attributed to him:
Striking the ground after goading his ox, Monaldi created a water source for thirsty pilgrims by the Via Flaminia.[12][5][13][14]
Monaldi's cattle damaged a field of a scorning neighbour while he was at Mass, for which he was abused.[14] The field was immediately restored.[13]
Monaldi abandoned a cart in the Torrente Marano at the sound of church bells;[14] the river flooded but left the cart untouched,[13][14] while other carts were swept into the Adriatic Sea.[14]
He planted trees that immediately bore ripe fruit, which he gave to some beggars.[5][13]
Monaldi died aged thirty on 2 May 1503 and was forgotten.[6][14][15] Some years after his death, Monaldi's body was exhumed and found in an incorrupt state, beginning his veneration.[13][14][15]
From at least the end of the 16th century, locals venerated Monaldi as a Blessed.[14] Despite his cult's local persistence, the Catholic Church has never officially recognised it.[12][15] A canonisation process was opened in 1838,[12][5][15] but was unsuccessful,[12][14][15] and closed in 1842 without reaching Vatican officials.[6]
Monaldi's veneration was particularly strong among Riccione's fishermen, who dedicated an extra holiday to his feast.[14] According to one legend, during his life, Monaldi shined lights onto the belltower of San Martino to save fishermen from shipwreck.[5][6] In 1880, an algal bloom between Ravenna and Ancona was said to have cleared after a procession of sailors invoked his intercession. Sailors have attributed sudden calms in perilous storms to Monaldi.[13]
A votive cell to Monaldi exists next to the church of Stella Maris, along the Via Flaminia, east of Fontanelle;[13][14][16][17] the cell records the spot that Monaldi found the water source,[13][18] and predates the church's construction in 1963.[16][17] Riccione's sulphurous water is locally renowned for its minerality and strong odour, with the flavour of rotten eggs.[13][18]
The cult of Monaldi intertwines with that of other saints named Alexis,[5][14][6] and the legend of the water source bears resemblance to that of St Isidore the Farmer.[12] Historical records remember numerous local landowners carrying his surname,[14] but nobody bearing the name Alessio.[6] His ownership of oxen and a cart suggests that Monaldi was a farmer of some means.[6]
By the mid-19th century, the church on Corso Fratelli Cervi was too small for Riccione's population. Don Alfredo Montebelli, San Martino's parish priest from 1937 to 1966, desired that a new place of worship be built.[7][19]Benito Mussolini, Italy's dictator, whose family owned a summer villa in Riccione, promised to support its construction, but plans were shelved by the outbreak of the Second World War.[19]
In January 1945, the parish was bequeathed a plot of agricultural land between Viale Ceccarini and Viale Diaz belonging to Maria Trozzolini. Her late brother, Dr Oddo Trozzolini, had wanted to donate the land for the construction of the new church. Maria's testament specified that the parish could only accept the land within twenty years of her death if the church's construction was financially viable. The first stone of the new church was placed on 20 January 1962.[19]
The interior of the new church in August 2015
The new church was designed by Marco Bizzi and built by the Impresa Edile Mingucci Giuseppe.[19] It was consecrated on 10 March 1963, still dedicated to St Martin of Tours.[7][8]
In its architecture, the church was conceived as a 'tent church'.[19] It features twelve stained glass windows, created between 1986 and 1992, which illustrate the seven sacraments, the birth of the Church, and Christ's incarnation, passion, death and resurrection. The current presbytery was added between 1999 and 2000.[7]
Related Research Articles
Rimini is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy.
Saint Lawrence or Laurence was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman Emperor Valerian ordered in 258.
Romagna is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy.
San Martino ai Monti, officially known as Santi Silvestro e Martino ai Monti, is a minor basilica in Rome, Italy, in the Rione Monti neighbourhood. It is located near the edge of the Parco del Colle Oppio, near the corner of Via Equizia and Viale del Monte Oppio, about five to six blocks south of Santa Maria Maggiore.
Riccione is a comune in the Province of Rimini, Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy.
Montjovet is a town and comune in the Aosta Valley region of north-western Italy. Montjovet lies in the lower Aosta Valley, between France and Switzerland. Though it only has an area of 18.7 square kilometers, the commune has 50 villages and hamlets, and a number of hills, the highest of which is Mont Lyan, at 2174 metres. Historically, the parish was under the control of the Bishop of Aosta. The current main parish church, Parrocchia della Natività della Vergine Maria, opened in 1837.
The Archdiocese of Bologna is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Northern Italy. The cathedra is in the cathedral church of San Pietro, Bologna. The current archbishop is Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who was installed in 2015.
San Martino may refer to:
Blessed Carino Pietro of Balsamo, sometimes called St. Acerinus, was the murderer of Saint Peter of Verona who later repented his actions and became a Dominican lay brother. He is venerated as a beatus by the Catholic Church.
The Battle of Rimini took place between 13 and 21 September 1944 during Operation Olive, the main Allied offensive on the Gothic Line in August and September 1944, part of the Italian Campaign in the Second World War. Rimini, a city on Italy's Adriatic coast, anchored the Rimini Line, a German defensive line which was the third such line of the Gothic Line defences.
The Church of Saint Anne in the Vatican, known as Sant'Anna de' Palafrenieri, is a Catholic parish church dedicated to Saint Anne in Vatican City. The church is the parish church of the State of Vatican City and is placed under the jurisdiction of the Vicariate of the Vatican City and is located beside the Porta Sant'Anna, an international border crossing between Vatican City State and Italy.
The Rimini trolleybus system forms part of the public transport network of the Province of Rimini, in the region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy.
Santa Maria Domenica Mazzarello is a parish church of the Diocese of Rome as well as a titular church to which a cardinal priest is sometimes assigned.
The Bologna–Ancona railway is an Italian railway that connects the city of Bologna with the city of Ancona, passing through the Po Valley to Rimini and along the Adriatic coast for the rest of the line.
Santa Maria di Gesù is a catholic church in Alcamo, in province of Trapani, Sicily, southern Italy.
Arcangelo Placenza da Calatafimi was an Italian Franciscan Friar and Preacher: today he is venerated as Blessed by the Catholic Church.
Sandra Maria Assunta Sabattini was an Italian diarist, medical student, and member of the Pope John XXIII Community, who was beatified by the Catholic Church on 24 October 2021.
Miramare di Rimini, more commonly known simply as Miramare, is the southernmost suburb and frazione of the city of Rimini, Italy. Situated on the Adriatic coast, the suburb lies 5 km (3.1 mi) southeast of Rimini's city centre and borders the municipality of Riccione.
The Church of San Martino is a Catholic religious building located in Cinisello Balsamo, in Piazza Soncino, overlooking Villa Casati Stampa. It is the main church in the Balsamo area.
Villa Mussolini is a seaside villa in Riccione, in the Province of Rimini, Emilia-Romagna.
1 2 3 4 5 Cicchetti, Emanuela (2003). "Lettera pastorale"[Pastoral letter]. www.parrocchie.it (in Italian). Retrieved 18 December 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
