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Church of St Roch in Poggio Mirteto: the confreres' terrace overlooking the square
The Church of San Rocco in Poggio Mirteto looks from atop the long Piazza Martiri della Libertà, with a grand staircase serving as a natural terrace. An original chapel dedicated to St Roch already existed at street level, but in 1785, the Confraternity of the Gonfalone (active here since 1607) rebuilt and expanded it further to papal authorization.
Inside: saints from the time of the plague and a disputed painting
The presbytery is dominated by a Madonna and Child surrounded by a sunburst of angels, featuring two Latin inscriptions: "Salus infirmorum" and "Tu honorificentia populi nostri". Within the niches of the triumphal arch stand the stucco statues of St Sebastian and St Roch (1689) created by Michele Chiesa — two saints invoked to combat the plague - depicted side by side. The side altars house 17th-century canvases, including a Nativity donated by Andrea Benedetti, attributed to Francesco Cozza or, according to others, Giuseppe Puglia; art scholar Guardabassi linked it to the Bolognese school.
