An authentic small jewel of mountain Romanesque, it is located a short distance and at a higher altitude than the Sanctuary of the Beata Vergine della Consolazione of Montovolo.
Built entirely in perfect opus quadratum, an example of the expertise of stonemasons of probable Tuscan origin, it shows a portal on the entrance facade which was evidently taken as a model for the reconstruction, in the nineteenth century, of that of the main church.
But it is inside that this jewel reveals all its preciousness.
Entirely covered by a cycle of frescoes which Rosalba D’Amico, after careful study, defined as attributable to a person with a good pictorial school, probably from the Tuscan area, and well informed of the iconographic models of various origins.
In the span of the presbytery, scenes from the life of the saint are depicted, as handed down by legend: from conversion to martyrdom; while in the span towards the door the theme is that of the Novissimi, that is, the events of the last times: the universal judgment with the resurrection of the dead, Hell, Purgatory and Paradise.
Finally, in the medallions of the cross vault, the fathers of the Church are depicted: Jerome, Gregory the Great, Ambrose and Augustine; the presence of such figures here may be connected to the fact that Catherine, due to the dispute with the philosophers and subsequent martyrdom, is considered the protector of Theology.
The facts of the Saint’s life are presented in the apse bay, starting from the left wall which depicts at the top the victorious dispute with the fifty philosophers sent by the emperor Maxentius and at the bottom the martyrdom of the wheel, with the soul leaving the body to ascend to the sky.
In the presbytery area there is also a small stone sarcophagus, embellished with engravings of crosses, palmettes and other symbols, which tradition has it is the one in which the remains of Saint Ahazius were preserved.
The aedicule of the Cross
Leaving the Oratory and proceeding towards the leap of S. Caterina, which opens onto a suggestive panorama of the Reno Valley, you come across a small building whose construction is due to the apparition of the Cross witnessed by the chronicles in 1399. The aedicule it was rebuilt in the mid-19th century, as the original one was almost entirely destroyed; the skilled local stonemason Amadio Chinni, who carried out the work, wisely resumed the Romanesque lines that characterize the nearby oratory.
Oratory of Santa Caterina d’Alessandria
Montovolo location
Grizzana Morandi (Bologna)
Emilia Romagna – Italy
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