Description
The church of St. Anthony stands in the western part of the village, in a very picturesque wooded place at the top of the village, rich in panoramic views. Of ancient construction, perhaps around the 10th-11th centuries, it formerly served as a dormitory, a refuge for wayfarers run by the prior and some villagers. Later its function as a place of worship was restored exclusively.
Dated August 1724 is an episcopal Bull concerning the Vergemoli oratory (recently restored), dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua, which was opened for worship with the ritual blessing of parish priest Don Camillo Freudiani. The oratory was subject to a number of constraints placed in favor of the Church of Sts. Quirico and Giulitta, for example: mass was to be celebrated mainly in the parish church and possibly in the oratory; the sacraments were not administered in the oratory without the permission of the parish priest; and in case of disputes, the reasons of the parish prevailed. The situation of Vergemoli and the other municipalities under Este rule unfolded without major changes until the Napoleonic invasion, when Garfagnana was annexed, with the former Duchy of Modena in 1797, to the Cisalpine Republic and then to the Italic Kingdom. During that period religious suppression laws were enacted, which between June and August 1798, as happened in all the territories conquered by Napoleon, led to the closure, also in Garfagnana, of more than one hundred religious institutions.
