CHURCH OF SAN PIETRO

The Church of San Pietro is about 200 m. from the centre of Gardola, which has a part protruding which is a hillock in the form of an ellipse, an area which is still called “castello” (castle) today, even if, after various studies and with all the necessary prudence, the origins would seem to be much older, from before the Roman period, or late-Roman. The function of the altar table at the time of the de-consecration of the church is not known. It was constructed using a pink stone which, under macroscopic examination, might have come from the stone quarry on Mount Denervo, in Tignale. The front of the church was demolished during the first world war because the church was used as a store for lorries, and in the fifties the building was transformed into a theatre and the altar was moved to its present position in the church in Olzano. According to a typology in widespread use from the fourth century the reliquary was in the form of a sarcophagus and decorated with crosses within a simple frame and containing a cover which was curved when seen in section. In 2002, with the excavation still open from those years before, it was possible to survey and analyse the archaeological deposit layer by layer, recognizing a sequence. This sequence comprises at least eight periods of building for the place of worship.