The oratory of S. Ilario is a small temple located on the Piagnaro hill, below the Castle of Pontremoli, near the gate that led into the village when arriving from the old Brattello road. The construction of the small oratory in neoclassical style began in 1883 and ended in 1893; in 1894 the statue of Sant’Ilario from which it takes its name today was placed inside. The building of the church is remembered in the marble plaque affixed inside in which the church is dedicated to the B. V. del Popolo.

Although the church is modest in size, it has a single nave full of stuccos and frescoes which ends with the semicircular apse; at the end of the barrel-covered nave there is a circular dome on pendentives. The walls, ceilings and dome are decorated with squares. Outside, the building has decorative motifs on the facade while the perimeter walls are left unfinished. The facade is particularly accurate with the insertion of a stairway to access a pronaos and the insertion of two side portals to mark the entrance to the side streets of the village.

photos: arch. Elia Santini