San Leonardo is a romanesque-style,

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

rural parish church located on Via della Chiesa #19/a, just outside of the former castle overlooking in the neighborhood of Artimino of town of

Carmignano Carmignano is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Prato, part of the Italian region Tuscany. It is located about west of Florence and about southwest of Prato. It is the centre of the wine region of the same name. Geography C ...

, province of Prato, region of

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

, Italy.

History

The ''pieve'' church is near the ''Villa Medicea La Ferdinanda''. The church is cited in documents from 998 by

Emperor Ottone III Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was crowned as King of G ...

. The church was expanded in the 12th century, under the patronage of Countess

Matilde di Canossa Matilda of Tuscany ( it, Matilde di Canossa , la, Matilda, ; 1046 – 24 July 1115 or Matilda of Canossa after her ancestral castle of Canossa), also referred to as ("the Great Countess"), was a member of the House of Canossa (also known as t ...

. In the 14th century, gothic tracery was added to the interior. The bell-tower may derive from one of the watch-towers of the castle. In the 1960s, efforts were made to restore the church to its original romanesque decoration. The walls still contain Etruscan tomb

spolia ''Spolia'' (Latin: 'spoils') is repurposed building stone for new construction or decorative sculpture reused in new monuments. It is the result of an ancient and widespread practice whereby stone that has been quarried, cut and used in a built ...

, with some now moved to the local archeologic museum. The belltower was modified in 16th and 17th centuries. The interior houses a wooden polychrome crucifix (1560) and a ''Madonna del Pozzo'', copy of

Franciabigio Franciabigio (1482 – 24 January 1525) was an Italian painter of the Florentine Renaissance. His true name may have been Francesco di Cristofano; he is also referred to as either Marcantonio Franciabigio or Francia Bigio. Life and career He wa ...

's work. It contains a 15th-century wooden statue of St Anthony Abbot, attributed to

Agnolo di Polo Agnolo may refer to: * Gabriele Agnolo, an Italian architect * Agnolo (given name), an Italian masculine given name See also * Agnoli Agnoli is an Italian surname A name in the Italian language consists of a given name ( it, nome), and a sur ...

and a statue of San Leonardo attributed to Domenico di Niccolò “dei Cori”. It has a terracotta in the Della Robbia style depicting the ''Visitation''.Comune of Carmignano
entry on church.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leonardo Carmignano 10th-century churches in Italy Romanesque architecture in Carmignano Roman Catholic churches in Tuscany Churches in the province of Prato