The first written reference to an oratory dedicated to St Martin in Pinzano al Tagliamento dates back to 1294 and at the time it depended on the parish church of Santo Stefano di Valeriano. With the 16th-century enlargement, three side chapels were built and frescoed between 1525 and 1527 by Giovanni Antonio De’ Sacchis, known as Pordenone, Friuli’s greatest Renaissance painter. Along the right wall, within the frame of a false aedicule, the painter depicts the Madonna of Mercy with Child. Commissioned by the Confraternity of St. Sebastian, he painted it between Saints Roch, Stephen, Nicholas and Michael the Archangel.
The altarpiece with Saint Anthony in Glory by Gianantonio Guardi dates back to 1740. At the end of the 18th century, the bell tower was demolished and rebuilt in front of the church, detached from the building. The organ above the main entrance dates back to the 19th century. During the Great War, the building became a military hospital and warehouse and religious services were transferred to the Church of the Santissima.
Above the portal, on the outside, there is a mosaic made by Vittorino Rugo from Pinzano in 1934, based on a sketch by the Friulian artist Fred Pittino (1906-1991).
It was only in 1940 that the church became a parish church and became independent from that of Valeriano. Damaged by the 1976 earthquake, it was reopened only ten years later.
The church, in Viale Vittorio Veneto, not far from the Town Hall, is open to the public only during religious celebrations, but you can ask to visit it by calling 0432 950304 or 338193757.
For more information on the Pordenone frescoes: https://itinerariculturalifvg.it/valeriano/
