San Pietro, Reggio Emilia

A document from 1140 acknowledges a church-monastery dedicated to Saints Pietro and Prospero existing outside the city walls (extra muros), on the road to Modena.

However, the fighting in the region had displaced the Benedictines from that monastery, and for their protection, in 1513 the bishop Albericone, under Pope Leo X, consecrated a new church and convent at this site.

The church layout follows the rules given by the Council of Trent and is a remarkable example of an architecture still true to its original design.

The interior has paintings by Alessandro Tiarini, Paolo Emilio Besenzi, Pietro Desani and Malossi.

[2] The smaller, built in 1524 under the designs of Bartolomeo Spani and Leonardo Pacchioni, is an example of the sober high Renaissance style, while the larger one, built sixty years later under Prospero and Francesco Pacchioni, is strongly reminiscent of the courtyard of the Palazzo Te in Mantua designed by Giulio Romano.