HISTORY
Bazzano is a small Apennine village of the commune of Neviano degli Arduini, where the parish church dedicated to Sant’Ambrogio is found. The church was founded in the 6^th century, and was mentioned for the first time in a document of 920. It was first referred to as a parish in 1004, when its Romanesque reconstruction was begun. The church had a notable role, particularly in 1230, when it assumed total jurisdiction over seven other chapels. During the 12^th century, it was probably three-aisled, with a traditional orientation of the apse in the east, later changed to its present form during the reconstructions of the 16^th and 17^th centuries. It has been noted that despite the numerous radical transformations beginning in the 16^th century, the original Romanesque plan of the 11^th century is still visible under the Renaissance additions. However, since the church was not subject to the usual restoration campaigns of the 19^th and early-20^th centuries, one has to look a bit harder to decipher those Romanesque forms. Restorations carried out between 2001-2003 resolved the building’s grave structural issues.

ART-HISTORICAL NOTES
Recent excavations have revealed that the apses of the church were originally in the east where the façade is today. In the second half of the 17^th century the orientation of the church was inverted. The ancient stone baptismal font is the principle element that attests to the building’s antiquity, octagonal on the exterior, a truncated cone on the inside. It is among the most precious remains of the Romanesque in Parma.