Church of Stoppiaro

The original church was smaller than the present one and built for the Fachetti family. It was demolished in the early 17C and rebuilt by the same family. The roof is gabled and the interior adorned with drawings and panels featuring floral motifs and geometric designs of stars and flowers. The confessional and pews are recent. Two alcoves in the side walls contain statues of the Sacred Heart and Our Lady of the Rosary.
A balustrade surrounds the marble altar and two deer drinking from a spring are depicted on the door of the tabernacle.

The semi-ruined bell-tower was restored and raised to 20 metres in the mid-19C, in the style of the old Matildic bell-towers. Leaning north, it houses three bells and has two clocks beneath the belfry.
A picture of considerable artistic value depicting St Mary Magdalene, after whom the church is named, was sold at an unknown time and is now privately owned.

The old cemetery (Via Quattrocase, 1km outside the village) was built in 1886 in what was then called the Via dei Morti (‘street of the dead’, a name linked to a rampant plague in 1576-1577).
With an unusual outer wall featuring red and white bands, it is entered along a short path through a wrought-iron gate. Although closed on 31 December 1932, many will have seen it in Bernardo Bertolucci’s 900, some scenes of which were filmed here.