HISTORY
The origins of the parish church of Santa Maria della Neve are vague, although closely linked to the origins to the town of Quarantoli. The church was already in existence in the 9th century, and documented as early as 1044, constituting an important center of cultural and religious life of the territory on par with the nearby and more famous Abbey of Nonantola. It was completely rebuilt in the 12th century on the initiative of Matilda of Canossa, in the epic of Ugo di Manfredo’s fiefdom. The date on the altar table, November 15, 1114 refers only to the consecration of the church. After the 15th-century restorations, in 1670, it was again transformed along Baroque lines, clearly preserved in the façade. If from a certain perspective the 1915 restorations returned the church’s Romanesque characteristics, on the other hand they brought radical changes to the building, such as the doubling of its length and the addition of a choir  surrounded by an ambulatory, which we must exclude if we want to reconstruct its Romanesque plan. The only remaining part of the original structure are thus the five bays of the nave and aisles.

ART-HISTORICAL NOTES
The most interesting fact about the building is its sculptural program. On the south side of the nave, a pulpit has been reconstructed, which incorporates six Romanesque sculptures, which represent the four symbols of the Evangelists. On the front Mark, Luke and John are depicted as their respective symbols of the lion, ox and eagle, and the right side includes Matthew, represented as a man. These sculptures, datable to a period between the 12-13th centuries, exhibit a strong influence of the workshops of Modena, and have been attributed to the school of Wiligelmo, responsible for the reliefs on the Duomo of Modena. The pulpit leans on two atlas figures, representing an old man and a boy kneeling down, with interesting physical characteristics and expressions of suffering.