Church of Saints Gervasius and Protasius

The rural Church of Saints Gervasius and Protasius, once known as “la gleseuta”, stands in open countryside west of the village. 

The setting is particularly evocative, especially after local citizen Gastone Valente — partisan “Enea” of the Osoppo Brigade, who died in Porzûs — enhanced the site by planting cypress trees around the church, which now rise prominently above the surrounding fields. 

The church is first mentioned in the 14th-century Catapan of Qualso, which records donations of “pounds of oil” for its lamps. From the 1281 will of the Cividale canon Enrico de Quals, we learn that he left bequests to several local churches, including that of San Gervasio. 

Over the centuries, the church was visited by parish priests only on 19 June (its feast day), as well as on St Stephen’s Day and Easter Monday. 

Because of its isolated location, it was repeatedly subjected to acts of vandalism and underwent several restorations.

Scholar Tarcisio Venuti maintains that in 1549 the sculptor and gilder Sebastiano Martinis carved the wooden altarpiece, and that in the same year the painter Sebastiano Valentinis created the altarpiece painting depicting the Madonna and Child with Saints Gervasius and Protasius. 

In 1594, Patriarch Barbaro ordered the restoration of the altar and the creation of a gilded leather antependium (altar frontal). 

The painting was unfortunately stolen in 1971 and replaced with an 18th-century canvas from the parish church of Qualso depicting Saints Anthony Abbot, Anthony of Padua, Florian and Lucy — which was also stolen in the early 1990s. A few years later, the painted leather frontal suffered the same fate.

The rectangular building is preceded by an 18th-century atrium with a large front window and two side entrances. Following this construction, the original bell gable was removed; only its wrought-iron fleur-de-lis cross remains atop the atrium. 

The north side has no openings, while the south wall features a window aligned with the 15th-century apse and two narrow slit windows typical of Romanesque architecture. 

On the façade, a rectangular window opens to the right of the entrance door. 

In the early decades of the 18th century, the church underwent a complete restoration, including the rebuilding of the portal. The stone lintel bears the inscription: 

“1723 DUARUM IANUARUM R.DUS IOA.ES MYCON ZUM.SISBENEFACTOR”
(2 January 1723, Reverend Giovanni Micon, benefactor of Zompitta) 

The rectangular nave features exposed wooden beams and thick side walls tapering upward. The small apse preserves its 15th-century ribbed vault resting on simple stone supports. 

On the right wall of the nave — unusually positioned — a stone holy water font dated 1723 was installed in the 20th century.

Following post-earthquake restoration works after 1976, a large but heavily damaged fresco emerged on the north wall. It depicts the Madonna and Child enthroned between Saints Gervasius and Protasius portrayed as warrior martyrs, holding sword and palm. 

At the lower left, outside the main frame, a kneeling donor is depicted in prayer, with the name JACOMUS inscribed beside him. The fresco is attributed to Gian Paolo Thanner and dated to around 1530. 

At the centre of the 16th-century wooden altar — altered by later repainting — is now placed a panel depicting Saints Gervasius and Protasius, inspired by the iconography of the mosaics in the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, created in 2001 by Prof. Edvino Mariano Milost. 

In place of the stolen altar frontal, a relief depicting the Virgin and Child has been installed, recalling the style of Luca della Robbia.