Canoscio

The present church in traditional Tuscan style celebrating the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was built in 1855‑1878 by architect Emilio de Fabris, better known for the sensitive Gothic façade he provided for the Duomo of Florence.

Canoscio was the site where a 6th‑century paleo-Christian dinner service of 25 silver pieces came to light under the plough in 1935: the pieces in the Canoscio hoard, now displayed in the Museo del Duomo, Città di Castello, as Early Christian liturgical silver, may not all have been expressly designed for liturgical use.

The large plate that protected the hoard, was shattered by the plough: reassembled, it reveals the inscription in its center DE DONIS DEI ET SANCTI MARTYRIS AGAPITI UTERE FELIX.

The largest of the unbroken plates was surely designed for a liturgical use from the beginning: in the center there is a raised surface familiar from pagan paterae, which kept the thumb free of the libation when making an offering.

At the side of the cross are depicted the hand of God and the dove of the Holy Spirit; at the bottom there are two lambs facing each other.