The Oratorio di San Rocco (Oratory of St Roch) is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

chapel-church located in the frazione of Spezzano, in the commune of

Fiorano Modenese Fiorano Modenese (Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Modena in the Italy, Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about west of Bologna and about southwest of Modena. Neighboring municipalitie ...

, in the region of

Emilia-Romagna Emilia-Romagna (, , both , ; or ; ) is an Regions of Italy, administrative region of northern Italy, comprising the historical regions of Emilia (region), Emilia and Romagna. Its capital is Bologna. It has an area of , and a population of 4.4 m ...

, Italy.

History

The oratory was moved near its original location, to the present site in 1909. At one time, the neighborhood had the name of ''borgata di San Rocco'' due to the oratory. The oratory was erected after the plague of 1501 ebbed in Spezzano. In 1605, the community ceded the adjacent house to the

Servite order The Servite Order, officially known as the Order of Servants of Mary (; abbreviation: OSM), is one of the five original mendicant orders in the Roman Catholic Church. It includes several branches of friars (priests and brothers), contemplative nu ...

, for them to found a convent for some years. The oratory houses a polychrome

scagliola Scagliola (from the Italian language, Italian ''scaglia'', meaning "chips") is a type of fine plaster used in architecture and sculpture. The same term identifies the technique for producing columns, sculptures, and other architectural elements t ...

altar frame with a 17th-century canvas depicting the ''Madonna and Child, with Saints Roch and Anthony Abbot'' by a painter of the Bolognese school.Comune of Fiorano Modenese
tourism entry.

References

Churches in the province of Modena 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy {{EmiliaRomagna-RC-church-stub