Chiesa di San Lorenzo in Grezzano

In the bull Piae Postulatio Voluntati, with which in 1145 Pope Eugene III placed the pieves and other churches of the Diocese of Verona under the authority of Bishop Tebaldo II, there is also “plebem de Gregiano cum capellis et decimis et curte”. Starting from the last years of the 13th century and for a good part of the 14th century, Grezzano and its church were part of the Scaligera Farm. In the 15th century, following the extinction of the Scaliger dynasty and the transition of Verona under the dominance of the Republic of Venice, Grezzano became a fief of the Canossa who extended their protection also over the church of San Lorenzo.

Established as a Parish before 1526, it was rebuilt in its current forms between 1678 and 1682 based on the design of the Veronese architect Vincenzo Pellesina. The internal decorative painting dates back to 1944 and is the work of Gaetano Miolato. The building has a baroque facade facing south and the bell tower attached to the western side of the church. The plan layout is a single rectangular hall, with a quadrangular raised presbytery of two steps, ending with a flat choir. Along the sides of the nave, four semi-side chapels host the altars of Santa Maddalena di Canossa and the Madonna del Rosario on the left, and the altars of the Immaculate and Saint Anthony on the opposite side. The internal facades are marked by slender pilasters with fluted shafts and festooned capitals on which the molded upper entablature rests. The walls are decorated with wall paintings by the painter Miolato, and with a series of sculptures placed within niches.

The nave and presbytery are covered with barrel vaults with lateral grooves, decorated with tempera in a fake coffered style. The roof is gabled with a supporting structure composed of wooden trusses. The flooring of the hall is made of square tiles of white and red Ammonitic marble laid in diagonal courses; the presbytery floor is paved with squares of red Verona marble and Botticino marble.

(Source: Pastoral Unit of Villafranca - Diocese of Verona)