The Servi Church

Explaination: The current church is an excellent example of 1700’s architecture and is part of the large building “site” that involved the city in the Age of Enlightenment: it was rebuilt between 1726 and 1735 over a pre-existing church erected by the Serviti Fathers in the XIV century, completed in 1343. The original building had a portico with six arches on the façade. Remains of the southern 1300’s side can be seen at the first cloister of the adjacent Public Library, built on the convent of the Serviti Fathers.Thearchitect responsible for the renovations was Giuseppe Soratini, who realised an imposing façade almost entirely in brick, divided into two orders and highlighted by two pairs of pilaster strips on “Samoggia stone” bases (in other words, “spungone”, a local calcareous sandstone).The famous bell tower, the tallest in Faenza and built on the design of Pietro Borboni between 1758 and 1774, was blown up by the Germans like the nearby civil tower of Piazza del Popolo during the last world war. It was not to be reconstructed.

Additional information: The church of the Servi was suppressed after the Second World War and is open only on certain occasions. Restoration works have been on the plans for some time now in order for it to be reopened. Only the exterior of the church can be seen today from corso Saffi, via Manfredi and from the adjacent ex-convent.