Church of San Vincenzo in Trecastagni
The complex of the Church of San Vincenzo de Paoli and the Orphanage of the Proiette settenarie in Trecastagni, consists of a beautiful tenement and an elegant church.
The complex was built in 1802 by the Archpriest Giuseppe Grassi, and restored in 1859 by the other Archpriest Alfio Grassi. The church, dedicated to St. Vincent de Paul, founder of the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity, was built as a chapel attached to the Institute for the reception and assistance of "proiette" girls, that is, girls abandoned by their families of origin and therefore entrusted to paid nurses from the treasury.
The monumental nineteenth-century façade, in neoclassical style, is divided into three parts by semi-columns with Ionic capitals and sandstone pilasters, and culminates with a closed triangular tympanum. In the central partition there is the main portal surmounted by a large rectangular window framed in sandstone, on the lateral partitions there are two portals surmounted by circular windows, also in sandstone.
The belfry preserves an interesting bell dating back to 1772, whose fusion is very fine and highly artistic, which comes from Vignola, in Emilia Romagna. It has a stylish frieze that covers it up to half and an inscription on two circular lines with an elegant shield in the center and on the two opposite sides the figures in relief of the Crucifix and St. Benedict. It shows the name of the manufacturer: Ieronimo Olita da Vignola.
The interior, with a rectangular plan, has a single nave with a hemispherical apse and terracotta tile flooring. At the end of the nave there is the choir with an iron staircase from which the cloistered nuns took part in religious ceremonies. Inside, the wheel aimed at guaranteeing anonymity in communications between the convent and the outside is still visible.
