Sant'Agostino is a Romanesque- Gothic-style

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 in Via Cairoli in

Rimini Rimini ( , ; or ; ) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situated at a strategically-important north-south passage along the coast at the southern tip of the Po Valley. It is ...

, Italy. It is one of the city's oldest extant church buildings.

History

A small parish church or oratory at the site dates to the 1069, originally dedicated to ''San Giovanni Evangelista''. In 1247, with the establishment of monks of the

Augustinian order Augustinians are members of several religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written about 400 A.D. by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13th ...

the church was rededicated. On January 20, 1498,

Pandolfo IV Malatesta Pandolfo IV Malatesta, nicknamed Pandolfaccio (Bad Pandulph) (July 1475 – June 1534) was an Italian condottiero and lord of Rimini and other cities in Romagna. He was a member of the House of Malatesta and a minor player in the Italian Wars. ...

, then lord of Rimini, sought refuge from a conspiracy to assassinate him called the ''congiura degli Adimari''. He was rescued by some followers, and the conspirators were hung from the walls of the nearby Rocca. The building was refurbished in 1618 through 1626. In 1797, after the suppression of the order, the church served as cathedral from 1798 to 1809, then it became again the parish church of San Giovanni Evangelista. The reconstruction of the convent, begun in 1787 with designs by Giuseppe Achilli, was never completed. The facade also remains incomplete in brick. On the left of the outer wall of the facade, a marble monument holds the remains of Gian Battista Paci, cavaliere di Santo Stefano, who died in 1615. A 55-meter bell-tower with a pyramidal top is at the rear of the church.Rimini Turismo
entry. The mortal remains of Blessed Alberto Marvelli were moved to the church of Sant'Agostino, from the city cemetery, in 1974.

Interior decorations

To the right of the entrance is the neoclassical funereal monument to Alberto Mattioli, designed by Luigi Poletti and with a bas-relief sculpted by

Pietro Tenerani Pietro Tenerani (11 November 1789 – 16 December 1869) was an Italian sculptor of the Neoclassic style. Biography Early career Pietro Tenerani was born in Torano, near Carrara. He initially trained with his maternal uncle, the sculptor P ...

. An inventory from 1864 found in the church, the following works: * The first altar to the right has the venerated crucifix, transferred here from the old Cathedral in 1798 * The second altar to the right, housed an altarpiece depicting ''St Thomas of Villanova'' by Marcantonio Franceschini and a medallion in chiaroscuro depicting the ''Glory of St Thomas'' by Filippo Pasquali * The second altar on the left, had a paintings depicting ''St John and St Facondo'' by Giovanni Battista Costa. * The second chapel housed a canvas depicting the ''Madonna della Cintura'' by Giorgio Picchi. * The third altar to the left once housed a ''Nativity'' painted by Giacomo Palma the Younger. The stucco-work is by Sansone of Bologna. * The main altarpiece was a ''St John the Baptist'' by Giovanni Laurentini. A ''God the father'' in the altar was painted by the Augustinian priest, Cesare Pronti dalla Cattolica, a disciple of

Guercino Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666),Miller, 1964 better known as (il) Guercino (), was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vigorous n ...

. * The church ceiling had stuccoes completed by Ferdinando Bibiena, and ovals frescoed by Vittorio Bigari. * The sacristy housed a ''Martyrdom of St Sebastian'' attributed to

Padovanino Alessandro Leone Varotari (4 April 1588 – 20 July 1649), also commonly known as Il Padovanino, was an Italian painter of the late-Mannerist and early-Baroque Venetian school, best known for having mentored Pietro Liberi, Giulio Carpioni, an ...

. Fragments of frescoes, circa 1300, attributed to Giovanni da Rimini, a follower of

Giotto Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto, was an List of Italian painters, Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the International Gothic, Gothic and Italian Ren ...

, are found in the main chapel and the bell-tower. The 1916 Rimini earthquakes caused eighteenth-century plaster on the church's apse to collapse, revealing forgotten fourteenth-century frescoes, which have been attributed to the Maestro dell'Arengo. These frescoes depict the Life of the Saint and the Last Judgement. The latter fresco is now displayed in the Civic Museum on Via Tonini.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agostino Rimini 13th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Roman Catholic churches in Rimini Romanesque architecture in Emilia-Romagna Gothic architecture in Emilia-Romagna