PONTREMOLI, DIOCESE OF. – It is the northernmost of the four dioceses of Lunigiana and extends its jurisdiction over the upper and, in part, the middle Magra Valley. At present the diocese comprises 128 parishes divided among 15 vicariates; its surface area, irregular and discontinuous in the southern part, is about 700 sq km with a population of about 70,000.
Before the municipal concentration within the walls of the town, the territory of the upper Magra Valley was divided ecclesiastically among the pievi (parish churches) of the pagan type, namely Vignola in the middle Verde Valley and Urcelà-Saliceto on the right bank of the Magra, about 2 km south of its confluence with the Verde, dependent on the ancient diocese of Luni (q.v.). In the same territory, distributed in connection with the important Roman road, at the foot of the Cisa pass and at a primary river confluence, there were hospitals and cells with oratories and churches belonging to important monasteries from various parts of Italy. Among these, the abbey of Brugnato (q.v.) had important dependencies in the Pontremoli area, and when these were transformed into a bishopric, the prelates there exercised very extensive jurisdiction. Under the influence of these elements, a new parochial organization took shape 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 distant from the upper Magra Valley and difficult to reach.
The first attempts to establish the diocese occurred in the 15th century, when P. belonged to the Duchy of Milan, at the time of Galeazzo Maria Sforza and, subsequently, under Spanish rule. They continued in the 16th–17th centuries, seeking either the appointment of an apostolic vicar or, at least, the residence in P. for six months of the year by the bishops of Sarzana or those of Brugnato. The latter,
Pontormo, Jacopo Carucci known as il - The Visitation. Above, the Sacrifice of Isaac - Florence, church of the Most Holy Annunciation.
residing habitually in the Pontremoli priory of S. Pietro, often substituted for the bishop of Luni in episcopal ministry. Almost all the new churches built in P. from the 15th century onward had indeed been consecrated by the bishops of Brugnato. The subsequent steps toward the foundation of the diocese were: in 1638, the construction, at the commune’s expense, of a large church, the future cathedral, in the town center; in 1721, the erection of the distinguished collegiate church, with a provost and seven canons, under the title of the Assumption of Mary, transferring to it the parish seat from the nearby ancient church of S. Geminiano, patron saint of the commune; in 1756, the bull Unigenitus Dei of 13 January, which suppressed the ancient pieve of Urceola-Salice, transferring its assets to the provostship of the collegiate church; in 1778, the Grand Duke Peter Leopold’s motu proprio of 10 August, under whose jurisdiction some territories of the upper Magra Valley then lay, which declared P. a noble city and designated it as an episcopal see. Finally, on 4 July 1787, Pius VI erected the diocese, but owing to difficulties between the Holy See and the Grand Duke, the first bishop was appointed only 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 to 121 in 1798; a number that later underwent further changes. After P., the most important center in the diocese is Fivizzano, where a mitred provost resides; Bagnone follows.
The seminary, with an attached episcopal college, established in the former convent of the Conventual Franciscans, boasts a noble tradition in cultural, theological, literary, and scientific fields and, in addition to its internal schools, provides a middle school and a classical lyceum open also to external pupils. Churches and monuments of notable historical-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 an 18th-century canvas by Cignaroli; the sanctuary of the Most Holy Annunciation (15th century), with a Sansovinian marble tempietto, a 15th-century polyptych, and panels by Luca Cambiaso; the apse of S. Giorgio, a remnant of Lombard architecture (10th century). At Filattiera: remains of the pieve of S. Stefano (10th century); the Romanesque oratory of S. Giorgio (8th century), with an inscription recalling a contemporary of King Astolf who “broke idols and converted sinners with songs of faith.”