Parish of the hamlet

The church of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, situated on the road of the same name that crosses the hamlet of St. Bartholomew, is one of the many sacred buildings located in the immediate Matuziano hinterland halfway between the sea and the mountains. The oldest part of the building dates back to the eighteenth century, when the whole structure of the church was erected on a huge rock, to be then considerably enlarged during the sixties of the last century.

Inside the church, erected in the parish church in 1960, there are two paintings, among which the first, depicting the Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew attributable to an unknown 17th century painter from Ponentino, is placed in the back wall of the presbytery behind the high altar, while the second, placed on the left side of the nave, depicts a Madonna and Child Jesus, by an unknown Ligurian artist of the 18th century. Of great artistic interest are also the fourteen Stations of the Cross, consisting of as many paintings made in France during the nineteenth century, half of which are placed on the left side, and half on the right side, of the nave.

The paintings located on the left side represent the following scenes from the Passion: Jesus Christ meets the Madonna, Jesus Christ condemned to death, Jesus Christ loaded with the cross, Jesus Christ falls for the first time, Jesus Christ helped by the Cyrenean, Jesus Christ dried by Veronica, and Jesus Christ falls for the second time, while those located on the right side depict: Jesus Christ meets the pious women, Jesus Christ falls for the third time, Jesus Christ stripped of his garments, Jesus Christ lifted up on the cross, Jesus Christ dies on the cross, Jesus Christ deposed from the cross and Jesus Christ deposed in the tomb.

(source text: Andrea Gandolfo; photo: Web)