Chiesa parrocchiale di San Cristoforo di Bobbio

The church of San Cristoforo di Bobbio is a parish church of the vicariate of Bobbio, Alta Val Trebbia, Aveto and Oltre Penice of the Diocese of Piacenza-Bobbio, located in the hamlet of San Cristoforo di Bobbio, in the Carlone valley, in the province of Piacenza about 6 km. from the municipal capital of Bobbio. There is the testimony of two churches erected as places of worship of the monastic cell of Viulio or Ugullio (ant. Vidulium), founded in the seventh century and dependent on the monastery of Bobbio, as evidenced by two imperial diplomas: Ottone I, dated 30 July 972 and Corrado II of 1027 (the latter preserved in the bobiensi historical archives). In the XI century the territory, the monastic cell and the churches passed to the dependence of the Diocese of Bobbio and the Bishop. The oldest church dedicated to St. James was built in the village next to the monastic structure of which traces remain in the present fortified house, later abandoned in the seventeenth century, it was modified and transformed into an agricultural building and cellar; the ancient structure is clearly visible in the apse part built on rock. The other place of worship dedicated to San Cristoforo was located on a hill outside the town at about 1 km and near the present cemetery (in the area of ​​the Old Church). The Church of San Cristoforo later became the parish seat until giving its name to the hamlet around the nineteenth century, the ancient structure remained almost unchanged until its destruction in the Napoleonic era, partly rebuilt and finally abandoned and demolished in the upper part in 1910 when the new building was built. Only the ruins remain of it. Until 1500 the Church of Dezza also depended on St. Christopher until it became a parish. In the fifteenth century for a long time the parish was administered together with the parishes of Dezza and Ceci by a single parish priest, who moved the headquarters from San Cristoforo to Dezza, because it was more central than the three churches. It was built as an autonomous parish by decree of the bishop of Bobbio mons. Birago of 24 October 1759. The current parish church was built in the new headquarters in 1910 by the parish priest Mons. Carlo Muzio and by the builder Giovanni Galli, in Lombard Romanesque style, in stone based on a design by the Milanese architect Cecilio Arpesani. The adjacent rectory was built in 1888, the bell tower was never built due to structural failures, so curiously the three bells merged in 1903 (only one ancient remained) are supported by a pyramidal steel scaffolding. The façade sees the presence of two large windows and the rose window with stained glass windows, above the wooden portal the tympanum with a white marble lunette with St. Christopher with the child blessing Jesus and on the right the carved relief of the old church. High above the lunette is the auspicious inscription of the patron saint of wayfarers: Cristophorum videas - postea tutus eas - see Christopher and traveling quietly. The interior has a single nave with two side chapels, dedicated to the Madonna and Saint Joseph, the pulpit is hexagonal in stone and bronze, while the presbytery is elevated with a high altar in white marble. Above the sides of the high altar are the statues of San Cristoforo and Sant'Antonio Abate. In the nearby hamlet of Moglia there was the dependence of a monastic cell, documented in 862 with the toponym of Solia, with the presence of a convent which remains a trace in the fortified house (private). The parish hamlets of Mogliazze, Moglia and ancient Cavanna also depend on the parish. The celebration of San Cristoforo is remembered on July 25th.