Church of St. Lorenzo

The church of San Lorenzo, once an oratory, stands in the heart of the village of Premilcuore, in the belt of the ancient medieval castle. It has been suggested that the building was originally the castle chapel, mentioned in two separate documents as early as 1124 and 1290. In August 1379 the community statutes were approved.

Today it seems to us as it was reorganized by the restoration of 1676 and, more importantly, by that of 1750; the building was restored again in 2011. The church has a longitudinal floor plan with a single nave and three bays surmounted by ribbed vaults. The exterior of the building is entirely plastered and painted white. The façade has a double slope. The belfry was built on the roof of a neighboring house.

The interior is painted white, except for some elements, such as the pilasters and arches, which are painted light gray.

The inside of the church is centered on the last wall, where there is a magnificent eighteenth-century altarpiece, which contains the altarpiece of “Our Lady of the Rosary with St. Dominic and St. Catherine”, oil on canvas by the Florentine painter Francesco Curradi, a 17th-century Tuscan school, restored in 1989, one of the most valuable paintings in the city. The altarpiece is surmounted by a medallion bearing the inscription “MONSTRA TE ESSE MATREM”, surmounted by two crowned angels and the dove of the Holy Spirit in a radiant areola.

Above, on the sides of the altar, there are two rich niches with gilded frames containing statues of St. Martin, patron saint of Premilcuore (on the right) and St. Lawrence (on the left). Below, there are two doorways with stone jambs and architraves decorated with a cherub’s head, surmounted by a frieze with a gilded inscription and a moulded cornice. These passages lead to the sacristy, where are kept the paintings “Holy Family with Saints Anne and John”, oil on canvas, attributed to the Tuscan painter Santi di Tito and coming from the abandoned church of Rio dei Campi, and a “Virgin of the Rosary”, of the same period.