La Pieve

This small country church, an absolute Romanesque jewel of the Val Curone, is the main historical monument of Volpedo. The parish church is mentioned for the first time in the year 965 in a pergamon parchment kept in the Capitolare Archive in Tortona. In addition to the apse, the top of the back wall of the central nave and a section of the longitudinal wall of the northern facade belong to the original building of the eleventh century. The remaining perimeter walls, the façade and the portal date back to the 15th century reconstruction, as do the frescoes preserved inside.

On the façade there is an ogival portal, with very simple workmanship, and decorations with pilasters arranged asymmetrically. The interior has three naves, divided by rows of four quadrangular pillars which support pointed or round arches; there is a trussed roof .
Of great note are the late fifteenth century frescoes, attributed to the Boxilio brothers (also mentioned in the archival documents as Baxilio or Basiglio), of Castelnuovo Scrivia, who owned the most important laboratory in the area of Tortona.

The profile of the pleban church with its small belfry is easily recognizable in Pellizza’s painting "Fiumana" , (Stream of people) one of the preparatory works that are part of the series that culminated in "Il Quarto Stato" (The Fourth Estate).