CHURCH OF ST. MICHAEL ARCHANGEL

In the heart of the small village of Roncole Verdi stands the Church of San Michele Arcangelo, a place of profound spiritual and emotional significance in the story of Giuseppe Verdi. Here, on October 11^th, 1813, the day after his birth, the composer was baptized in the same baptismal font still visible today in the first chapel on the right.

Of early medieval origin, the church appears today in the form it acquired between the 16^th and 17^th centuries, when it was expanded and enriched. Inside, it houses precious early 16^th-century devotional frescoes, two paintings by the local artist Pietro Balestra, and a striking, archaic wooden statue of the Dead Christ.

In the nave stands the magnificent organ, built in 1797 by Francesco Bossi, on which Verdi began practicing as a young child under the guidance of his first teacher, Pietro Baistrocchi. After Baistrocchi’s death in 1823, young Verdi succeeded him as the church’s organist. The organ was restored in 1900 thanks to Verdi’s personal involvement and careful supervision; it underwent further restorations in 1964 and 2001.

A large 19^th-century canvas depicting the Calvary scene, painted by the scenographer Girolamo Magnani from nearby Fidenza, is displayed only during Holy Week, suspended above the main altar—a theatrical and symbolic presence of great visual impact. In a small room beneath the organ, several Verdi-related relics are preserved. Meanwhile, at the base of the bell tower, a plaque commemorates a touching episode: in early 1814, as Russian and Austrian troops swept through the region following Napoleon’s defeat, Verdi’s mother, Luigia Uttini, took refuge in the bell tower with her infant son, protecting him from the violence and chaos of the invading forces.