Church Of Santo Stefano

This church replaced the fourteenth-century church of the same name that stood further north, in the locality of “Finocchieto”, which was destroyed by the earthquake of 1781. It was rebuilt by the parish priest Don Ulderico Matterozzi-Brancaleoni-Bonaventura, feudal lord of Piobbico, together with his brother Antonio Francesco who succeeded him in the fiefdom at the time of his renunciation, in 1773 when he became a priest.

The church was completed in 1790 and consecrated on 23 June 1793. The simple but elegant external façade is made of bricks on which the white travertine of the window frames stands out and is enlivened by the arch of the portal and the two lateral arches. The Brancaleoni coat of arms stands out under the arch of the portal. The interior, of ellipsoidal shape, has typically Baroque ornaments, and has been declared a “National Monument” for the art treasures it contains, coming from the old church.

In the apse there is the suggestive altarpiece depicting “The Stoning of Saint Stephen”. It is a painting on wood attributed to the Durantine Giustino Salvolini dated 1570. On the door riser, under the altarpiece, the coat of arms of the parish priest is carved: in the centre the Brancaleoni coat of arms, on the left that of the Matterozzi, on the right that of the Bonaventura.

The canvas on the left altar depicts “The Deposition from the Cross” and is attributed to the painter from Urbino, Gerolamo Cialdieri. On the right altar there is one of the most refined works painted by Federico Fiori known as “il Barocci da Urbino”: a version of “The Rest of the Holy Family during the Flight into Egypt”, painted with a mixture of oil and tempera.