Church of the Assumption of Mary
Vergato, Italy
Open to visitors
The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.
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The Church of Santa Maria Assunta, a Roman Catholic parish church in Riola in the Reno valley of Emilia-Romagna, stands as Finnish architect Alvar Aalto's sole ecclesiastical work in Italy. Designed by Aalto alongside Elissa Aalto and the Aalto Studio following a 1965 commission by Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro, Archbishop of Bologna, the church was opened for worship in 1978 after design and development spanning 1966 to 1980, with its free-standing bell tower completed in 1994. The building is distinguished by its asymmetrical nave, curved reinforced-concrete structural frames, and carefully controlled natural lighting that integrates the structure into the surrounding Apennine landscape. Regarded by Italian architectural historians as one of the country's most significant examples of contemporary religious art and modern sacred architecture, Santa Maria Assunta represents a selective dialogue between the Aalto Studio's modernist practice, Lercaro's progressive church-building initiatives in Bologna, and the local community of Riola.
Architect
- Built
- Type
- parish church
- Place
- Vergato, Italy
This building on
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Location