San Giuseppe Calasanzio 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 ...

church located on Via Bernieri in the historic center of the town of

Correggio Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – 5 March 1534), usually known as just Correggio (, also , , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter who was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Renaissance, who was responsible for som ...

province of Reggio Emilia The province of Reggio Emilia (; Emilian: ''pruvînsa ed Rèz'') is a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The capital city, which is the most densely populated ''comune'' (municipality) in the province, is Reggio Emilia. It has an ...

, 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. The church was deconsecrated in 1972, and was damaged by the 1996 earthquake.

History

The church was erected in 1567, initially dedicated to St Dominic and affiliated with an adjacent Dominican order monastery. At that era, the church abutted the city walls. The present dedication to St

Joseph Calasanz Joseph Calasanz (; ; September 11, 1557 – August 25, 1648), also known as Joseph Calasanctius and Iosephus a Matre Dei, was a Spanish Catholic priest, educator and the founder of the Pious Schools, which provided free education to poor boys. ...

derives from the Piarist who officiated at the church from 1783 to 1810. The layout is that of a Post-Tridentine late-

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

-style, with a long nave with five chapels on the right and four chapels on the left, a short transept and a deep apse. The altar of the left transept is dedicated to the Madonna del Rosario. Other altars are decorated with stucco and

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 ...

. The bell tower was erected in 1613. The roof of the belfry is a truncated pyramid, a shape acquired after damage from the 1832 earthquake. Among the interior decorations, the altarpiece in the third chapel on the left, once depicted a Beata Vergine delle Grazie. The icon was moved to replace the altarpiece in the chapel once dedicated to St Dominic. The original main altarpiece depicts the ''Assumption of the Virgin'' and was commissioned by cardinal Girolamo Bernieri around 1600 and painted by

Federico Zuccari Federico Zuccaro, also known as Federico Zuccari and Federigo Zucchero ( July/August 1609), was an Italian painter, draughtsman, architect and writer. He worked in various cities in Italy, as well as in other countries such as Spain, France, t ...

. The painting is now in the apse of the Reggio Emilia Cathedral. In 1783, this altarpiece was replaced with a painting depicting ''Beato Giuseppe Calasanzio in Glory'' and ''Miracles of the Blessed Calasanzio'' (1784) by Giovanni Filiberto Pagani. While this painting is still in this church, most of the other altarpieces are now exhibited in the Civic Museum of Correggio.Description of the Church
by Margherita Fontanesi, and translated by Francesca Chiussi.

References

Roman Catholic churches in Correggio 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Renaissance architecture in Emilia-Romagna 1567 establishments in Italy Roman Catholic churches completed in 1567 {{EmiliaRomagna-RC-church-stub