The Romanesque church of San Pietro in Messa is located in the town of Ponte Messa, a few kilometers of Penabilli, in the province of Rimini. The present structure of the temple is from the 12th century, but some documents attest to its existence already in 912. That which is certain is that the place chosen for the construction of the building corresponded to a preexisting Roman site, revealed by the ancient Roman ark, which forms the base of the altar. The site was a strategic point along the Tiberian road. It was evangelized in the 5th century and fell first into Lombard, then Franco-Carolingian hands. The church was substantially remodeled in the 12th century, almost certainly the work of Lombard workshops. The present form of the church is typical of a Po Valley Romanesque style: the gabled façade, reflecting a nave taller than the aisles. The remains of a porch are visible on the façade, above which two stone shelves project, sculpted with symbolic figures.  The rest of the façade is animated by vertical pilaster strips and horizontal stringcourses. To the side of the building is the squared bell tower, and the sober curve of the apse, articulated with lancet windows. A round arcade subdivides the bare interior. Much of the decoration was probably lost, as a result of the gradual abandon of the site. In the 16th century, the baptismal font was moved to the Collegiata of San Bartolomen in Penna, and over the course of the 18th century, the church was refitted mostly as a farmhouse. Only at the end of the last war was the old church restored and brought back to its original religious function.