Hello everyone, I hope that you are very well!
I have decided to take myself on a tour of most of the churches in Rimini. It is for this reason that I want to briefly tell you today about one of the churches I visited last week. This church caught my attention because I didn't think it was as big as it was when I was cycling through the centre of town and found the door open. It was because of this that I decided to enter; I had to leave my bicycle on the side of the temple in order to be able to appreciate it fully and get to know its history.
This church that I want to tell you about today can be found in the centre of Rimini in the Piazza tre Martiri. There is another, more octagonal monument in front of the church called the Temple of Sant’Antonio. I had entered this small temple two weeks ago, but it was the first time getting to know the church behind it known as the Paolotti Church.
This church is not as old as the other that you can find in the centre of Rimini, but I can assure you that it is definitely the most colorful of all the ones that I have visited up until this point in time. It has a different kind of form, breaking away from the traditional style of Latin Cross that I am so accustomed to seeing.
If there's something you need to keep in mind, it's that there are many monuments that were almost totally destroyed during the Second World War. In fact, before the present Paolotti Church, there was previously a baroque church in its place, which means that it must have been overloaded with art. I tried to find pictures of the old church but unfortunately, I couldn't find any.
In terms of the construction of the present church, I can tell you that it was built in 1963 and you can find decorations inside of it that are mostly attributed to an Italian man named Achille Funi.
Anyway, this temple was constructed in honour of Saint Antonio de Padua, one of the Saints that arrived from Portugal in order to predict the word of the Lord. It is said that this part of the city is where a miracle occurred, so it is thanks to this that the Temple of Sant'Antonio exists today.
One thing that I liked a lot about the church was that many of its decorations were walls covered in mosaics, giving background to the images. For example, the next one is of Saint Antonio de Padua - the brilliant colours reminded me a little of Ravenna and their mosaics. I think that in some way they must be influenced somehow because both cities are within the Emilia Romagna region.
Furthermore, as you know, the city of Rimini is located in front of the Adriatic Sea, so it is not surprising that the city has a Patron Saint or a Saint for the fishermen themselves who have been living here. This Saint is known as Saint Franciscus di Paula, and just to the right of this church you can find a square with wall tiles that have his image on them. At the foot of the Saint there are various monuments in the city, such as the arch of Augustus, the Malatestian Temple, the Tiberius Bridge and the church itself.
When you enter the church, just on the right hand side, supported by a column, there is a black and white book laminated in plastic so that you can read it and understand more about the Saint.
One of the things I liked most about this temple was the representation of a monument that I found in one of the chapels. The truth is that I was not able to find much better information about what this represents, but I have shared it here with you anyway so that you are encouraged to go and see it:
I'm not sure, but I think it is related to the small temple that is opposite this sanctuary's door.
Contrastingly to the other churches that you can find in the city of Rimini, the musical organ here is located on the upper part of the church, almost on the same bit as the altar. Furthermore, I would recommend you to also look at part of the dome because you will be able to see a representation of 8 people playing different musical instruments.
Finally, I will leave you with a photograph that I took when I found the church open so that you can visit it whenever you like, take advantage - it's free! Even though it is not as old as the other churches in the area, I assure you that it is at least the most colourful church that I have seen so far in the whole of Rimini.
Thank you for reading this post! I hope that it will be useful to you if you visit Rimini! Until next time!
