San Pietro Celestino Church and paintings

Church of San Pietro Celestino, seat of the parish of St John the Apostle.

The church is dedicated to Pietro Murrone, a Calabrian monk proclaimed Pope under the name of Celestine V, who was present in the Processions on the occasion of someone's death. The church was, until 1819, the seat of the convent of the Celestine fathers; it was then donated to the parish of San Giovanni, whose church (later Ospedale Morioni 1833), which was within the castle walls, was in a dilapidated condition at the time. The Celestines abandoned the church and convent at the time of the Napoleonic suppression. It was once the seat of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Sorrows, the only confraternity in Saltara composed exclusively of women. The church has a single nave with two altars against the left wall and two against the right wall. The nave and apse are naturally lit by windows with coloured stained glass placed above the entablature that runs the length of the church in neoclassical style with stucco decorations, barrel vaulted with veils and two side altars on each side. The Baroque façade is marked vertically by two registers of pilasters and is enlivened by volutes and cornices and gables with curved or broken lines. The side bell tower rebuilt in Art Deco style stands on the left, detached from the body of the church.