Basilica di San Prospero

It is dedicated to the patron of the city. Eminent Baroque testimonial is located in the center of the city and houses the Saint'svestiges under the main altar. The facade dates back to the middle of the eighteenth century, by G.B. Cattani, and presents eleven statues of Saints Protectors and Doctors of the Church. At the limit of the churchyard there are six characteristic red marble Verona lions, whose original destination was to support six columns. The interior, with three naves and a Latin cross, houses pictorial works by sixteenth-century authors, including Giovanni Giarola, Michelangelo Anselmi, Denis Calvaert, Ludovico Carracci and Tommaso Laureti. Among the seventeenth-century works are the altarpiece by Alessandro Tiarini and Francesco Stringa. Noteworthy are sculptural groups by Bartolomeo Spani and Prospero Sogari. The decoration of the dome and columns is the result of a nineteenth-century intervention. To Saint Prospero is attributed the city's rescue from the bag of Attila: Huns did not notice the town because a providential intervention invoked by Prospero wrapped Reggio Emilia in a generous fog of mist.