PONTREMOLI, DIOCESE of. — It is the northernmost of the four dioceses of Lunigiana and extends its jurisdiction over the upper and, partially, middle Val di Magra. At present the diocese has 128 parishes divided among 15 vicariates; its area, irregular and discontinuous in the southern part, is approximately 700 sq. km., with a population of approximately 70,000 inhabitants.
Before the concentration of the municipalities within the walls of the town, ecclesiastically the territory of the upper Val di Magra was divided between the pagus-type pievi of Vignola, in the middle Valle del Verde, and Urceola-Saliceto, on the right bank of the Magra, approximately 2 km. south of its confluence with the Verde, dependent Luni (v.). In the same territory, in connection with the important Via Romea, at the foot of the Cisa pass and at a junction of river confluences, there were priories, hospices and cells, with oratories and churches, belonging to important monasteries from various parts of Italy. Among these, Brugnato (v.) had important dependencies in the Pontremoli area and, having been transformed into a bishopric, its prelates exercised very broad jurisdiction there. Under the influence of these elements, the new parochial organization developed within the town walls, giving rise to five urban parishes. With the new religious and ecclesiastical arrangements, the first aspirations emerged for separation from the see of Luni-Sarzana, which was too far from the upper Val di Magra and difficult to reach by the available routes.
The first attempts to establish the diocese took place in the 15th century, when P. belonged to the Duchy of Milan, during the time of Galeazzo Maria Sforza and, subsequently, under the Spanish government. They continued in the 16th and 17th centuries, with requests either for the dispatch of an apostolic vicar or, at least, for the bishops of Sarzana, or alternatively those of Brugnato, to reside in P. for six months of the year. The latter, residing habitually in the Pontremoli priory of S. Pietro, had often replaced the bishop of Luni in the episcopal ministry. Indeed, almost all the new churches built in P. from the 15th century onward had been consecrated by the bishops of Brugnato. The subsequent steps toward the foundation of the diocese were: in 1638, the construction, at the expense of the municipality, of a large church in the urban center, the future Cathedral; in 1721, the erection of the distinguished collegiate church, with a provost and seven canons, under the title of Maria Assunta, transferring to it the seat of the parish from the nearby ancient church of S. Geminiano, patron of the municipality; in 1756, the bull Unigenitus Dei, of 13 January, which suppressed the ancient pieve of Urceola-Saliceto, transferring its property to the provostship of the collegiate church; and in 1778, the motu proprio of 10 August by Pietro Leopoldo, grand duke of Tuscany, on whom some territories of the upper Val di Magra then depended, which declared P. a noble city and designated it as an episcopal see. In 1787, on 4 July, Pius VI finally erected the diocese, but because of difficulties that arose between the Holy See and the grand duke, the first bishop would not be appointed until ten years later. The new diocese, a suffragan of Pisa, was composed of 129 parishes, taken partly from the diocese of Sarzana and partly from that of Brugnato, reduced in 1798 to 121—a number that subsequently underwent further modifications. After P., the most important center of the diocese is Fivizzano, where a mitred provost resides; Bagnone follows.
The Seminary, with an adjoining episcopal college, established in the former convent of the Conventual Franciscans, boasts a noble cultural, theological, literary and scientific tradition and, in addition to its internal schools, provides a middle school and a classical lyceum, also open to external pupils. Churches and monuments of considerable historical and artistic interest include: the cathedral of S. Maria Assunta, 17th century, designed by A. Capra; the church of S. Francesco, 16th century, with Romanesque remains, a very rare bas-relief by Agostino di Duccio, and a canvas by Cignaroli from the 18th century; the sanctuary of the S.ma Annunziata, 15th century, with a Sansovinian marble tempietto, a 16th-century polyptych, and panels by Luca Cambiaso; and the apse of S. Giorgio, a remnant of Lombard architecture from the 10th century. At Filattiera there are remains of the pieve of S. Stefano, 10th century, and the Romanesque oratory of S. Giorgio, 8th century, with an inscription recalling a personage contemporary with King Astulf, who: «hic idola fregit - delinquentium convertit carmina fide».