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 Val di Magra. At present the diocese has 128 parishes divided among 15 vicariates: its area, irregular and discontinuous in the southern part, is about 700 sq. km., with a population of about 70,000 inhabitants.
Before the concentration of the commune within the walls of the town, ecclesiastically the territory of the upper Val di Magra was divided between the rural-type plebes of Vignola, in the middle Valle del Verde, and of Urceola-Saliceto, on the right bank of the Magra, about 2 km. south of its confluence with the Verde, both dependent on the ancient diocese of Luni (v.). In the same territory there were distributed, in connection with the important Via Romea, at the foot of the Cisa pass and at a junction of river confluences, priories, small hospices and cells, with oratories and churches, belonging to important monasteries from various parts of Italy. Among these, the abbey of Brugnato (v.) had important dependencies in the Pontremoli area and, having been transformed into a bishopric, its prelates held very extensive jurisdiction there. Under the action of these elements, the new parochial organization developed within the walls of the town, giving rise to five urban parishes. With the new religious and ecclesiastical arrangements there appeared the first aspirations for separation from the see of Luni-Sarzana, too distant from the upper Val di Magra and with difficult communications.
The first attempts to establish the diocese occurred in the 15th century, when P. belonged to the Duchy of Milan, in the time of Galeazzo Maria Sforza and, subsequently, of the Spanish government. They continued in the 16th-17th centuries, seeking either the sending of an apostolic vicar or, at least, the residence in P., for six months of the year, of the bishops of Sarzana, or else of those of Brugnato. The latter, habitually residing in the Pontremoli priory of S. Pietro, had often replaced the bishop of Luni in the episcopal ministry. Almost all the new churches that arose in P., from the 15th century onward, had in fact been consecrated by the bishops of Brugnato. The subsequent steps toward the founding of the diocese were: in 1638 the construction, at the expense of the commune, of a large church, the future Cathedral, in the urban center; in 1721 the erection of the distinguished collegiate church, with a provost and seven canons, under the title of Mary Assumed, transferring there the seat of the parish of the nearby very ancient church of S. Geminiano, patron of the commune; in 1756 the bull Unigenitus Dei, of 13 January, which suppressed the ancient plebs of Urceola-Saliceto, transferring its property to the provostship of the collegiate church; in 1778, the motu proprio of 10 August of Peter Leopold grand duke of Tuscany, on whom certain territories of the upper Val di Magra then depended, which declared P. a noble city and designated it an episcopal see. In 1787 Pius VI, on 4 July, finally erected the diocese, but owing to difficulties that arose between the Holy See and the grand duke, the first bishop would be appointed only ten years later. The new diocese, suffragan of Pisa, was composed of 129 parishes, taken in part from the diocese of Sarzana and in part from that of Brugnato, reduced in 1798 to 121; a number that subsequently underwent modifications. After P. the most important center of the diocese is Fivizzano, where a mitred provost resides; next comes Bagnone.
The Seminary, with an attached episcopal college, established in the ancient convent of the Conventual Friars Minor, boasts a noble cultural, theological, literary and scientific tradition 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 and artistic interest: cathedral of S. Maria Assunta, 17th century, design by A. Capra; church of S. Francesco, 16th century, with Romanesque remains, a very rare bas-relief by Agostino di Duccio, a canvas by Cignaroli of the 18th century; sanctuary of the Santissima Annunziata, 15th century, a Sansovinian marble tempietto, a 16th-century polyptych, panels by Luca Cambiaso; apse of S. Giorgio, a remnant of Lombard architecture, 10th century. At Filattiera: remains of the plebs of S. Stefano, 10th century; Romanesque oratory of S. Giorgio, 8th century, with an inscription commemorating a personage contemporary with King Astolf, who: «hic idola fregit - delinquentium convertit carmina fide».
Bibliography10 works
Luigi Farfarana