MONUMENTS PROVINCE OF RIMINI
MONUMENTS RIMINI
San Fortunato
Church
On the hill of Covignano, immediately
outside Rimini, stood the significant Benedictine abbey
dedicated to S. Maria di Scolca. Founded at the beginning
of the fifteenth century by Carlo Malatesta, it belonged to
the Olivetan branch of the Benedictine order, the so-called
“white friars” because of the snow-white robes they wore. Of
the abbey, which, protected by the Malatesta family,
extended rapidly its possessions over much of the
surrounding territory, at the present stands only the parish
church of San Fortunato. San Fortunato Church, which has
suffered many alterations over the centuries, maintains
nevertheless its original layout and Renaissance façade with
a fine marble portal. In the Church, with nave and two
aisles and a noteworthy Renaissance ceiling, hang over the
lateral altars two altarpieces depicting St Benedict and
Sainted White Friars painted by Father Cesare Pronti in
the mid-seventeenth century. Over the major altar, in the
seventeenth-century apse, it is possible to admire the
impressive Adoration of the Magi, Giorgio Vasari’s
masterpiece painted in 1547. In the chapel are noteworthy
frescos attributable to
Girolamo
Marchesi da Cotignola, painted
in 1512, the same year in which Pope Julius II was received
as a guest in the monastery adjoining the church. The nave
is enlivened by six extraordinary statues of Olivetan saints
modelled in stucco in 1650 by Father Tommaso da Bologna.