HISTORY
The Parish of San Lorenzo di Panico is located north of Marzabotto, and is considered one of the most beautiful Romanesque constructions of the Bolognese Apennines. The building still preserves a large part of its original structure, although it did undergo a radical restoration at the beginning of the 20th century that erased later structural interventions. There are no specific documents that relate its construction to the family of the Counts of Panico, even if the relationships with the fiefdoms of the countryside were frequent and the canons definitely enjoyed large donations therefrom. the first document that cites San Lorenzo is from 1030, but the complex is probably older than that, as its vast canonical holdings of the 11th century seem to attest. A donation of 1208 refers to the construction of a cloister, and in 1248, the canons’ dormitory was built. These structures are the evidence of the parish’s articulated structure, including one of the most important religious building in the region.
ART-HISTORICAL NOTES
The church has a single apse and three aisles, and the walls are constructed of ashlar blocks, harmoniously connected particularly in the façade. The structural quality and the morphological characteristics recall the church of San Pietro in Valdottavo in the province of Lucca, as well as Santa Maria Assunta di Rubbiano in the province of Modena. The modern alterations and 20th-century restorations profoundly altered the building, but some documents report the existence of elongated single-lancet windows on the sides of the church, while the perimeter wall was probably decorated with ornamental motifs in polychrome brick, similar to the complex of Santo Stefano in Bologna.