Church of San Frediano in Montignoso
In the silence and beauty of these landscapes, the faithful and visitors can experience great spirituality and recollection
The Church of San Frediano is leaning against the walls of the ancient castle within which it was originally built. Walls still clearly visible today in the jagged surface to the right of the facade, where signs of renovation are equally evident. If you look closely, from mid-height and up to the roof, you can see how the wall texture changes. Although the same Alberese stone was used, the layout becomes denser and the blocks smaller.
The small building has a single nave and lacks an apse. The chancel is preceded by a large arch supported by two massive columns, slightly leaning toward the outer walls of the building. Surmounted by capitals carved with anthropomorphic and plant motifs, the columns probably came from the ancient parish church of Pisignano, a church of which there are records between the 11th and 12th centuries but which must have lost its plebeian functions to the castle parish by 1400.
Since 1990, the parish has been the permanent home of the Family of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a community devoted to the worship of the Holy Mother Virgin of Fatima.
Finally, since 2011 Montignoso has been recognized as a diocesan sanctuary and is a pilgrimage destination. In the silence and beauty of these landscapes, the faithful and visitors can experience great spirituality and recollection.
The shrine opens year-round, Monday through Friday at 5 p.m. and on public holidays and holidays at 3:30 p.m.
From May to October, every 12th and 13th of the month, evening liturgies are celebrated in remembrance of the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima.
Mass is said at 5:30 p.m. on weekdays and holidays, 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on holidays [orari validi dal 1° ottobre al 1° maggio]. In the summer season, between May and October, Mass is always celebrated at 6 p.m.