Collecchio - Pieve di San Prospero

In the 11th century a church was erected here on the ruins of a Roman temple. It had a single nave and three apses. As the church was next to the Via Francigena a hospital existed here for the pilgrims on their way to Rome.

In the early 13th century the church was modified, as by then it had three aisles. Six side chapels were added in the 16th century. Two centuries later San Prospero got a new facade.

When the restoration started in 1912 the side chapels got demolished, to bring back / recreate the original church from the 13th century.

This relief is placed on the wall just behind the large baptismal font. It reminds me on the wonderful mosaics in Ravenna ("Battistero degli Ariani" and " Battistero Neoniano"). It may be a byzantine work, there are Greek letters above the scene spelling "Baptism".

Sergio Stocchi ("Italia romanica"), following another scholar, attributes it to the workshop of Benedetto Antelami from near Parma and dates it 1210-1220.