Church of Sant'Antonio Abate

The church of St. Anthony Abbot was built in 1665 in the center of the castle of Serrungarina. It is the present parish church, rebuilt several times over the centuries.

Located in the heart of Serrungarina, in Piazza Serafini, the Church of Sant'Antonio Abate was built in 1665 on the site of the Malatesta Tower (the previous church was outside the walls), which was demolished in 1866 and rebuilt in 1870. Inside the church, there are two paintings of remarkable artistic merit: the Immaculate Conception by Giuliano Presutti of Fano (around 1560) and the altarpiece depicting the Visitation by Giovanni Francesco Guerrieri from Fossombrone (around 1620). This is the current parish church, rebuilt several times over the centuries in the area of the ancient fortress that was constructed by Galeotto Malatesta in 1348. Bishop Lapi, in 1610, found the church almost completely demolished, including most of the roof. In the homily held in the ancient parish church of San Giovanni, the bishop urged all the men of the castle to contribute to the construction of the new Sant'Antonio building. The work was completed in 1665, also utilizing the ruins of the ancient fortress, which had made that castle, on the borders of the Fano countryside, one of the best fortified. The church has a masonry structure and is flanked on the left by the building that housed the former Municipality of Serrungarina; the right side, however, is free. The seven-step staircase of the churchyard leads to the tympanum portal that characterizes the exposed brick façade and gable roof. Above the entrance door is a glazed oculus framed by two arched windows placed on either side at mid-height; at the top, the façade concludes with a triangular pediment. At the rear on the left, the bell tower rises. The interior has a single nave covered with a segmental barrel vault. The lunettes of the ceiling house a total of four windows with stained glass depicting the Evangelists. Against the inner façade are the vestibule and the choir loft with a mirrored wooden parapet. Two chapels on each side, of different depths, open onto the assembly hall, housing a Crucifix, wooden altars, statues, and sacred paintings. On the left wall, between the first and second chapels, a small wooden pulpit is affixed. Two steps lead to the apse floor, which is semicircular and covered by a basin vault; behind the altar table, a wooden screen hides the sacristy door. The internal unity of the nave and the apse is achieved through the decorative architectural articulation of the pilasters and the entablature above.