Church of San Giorgio Martire - Arena Po

The Church of San Giorgio Martire, originally, was a parish church dedicated to San Pietro, whose cult was widespread among the Lombards, and belonged to the diocese of Piacenza as evidenced by a document of the year 964. The parish was located far from the village of Arena, precisely in the village of Luveria, on a land later called "church vineyard", corresponding to the current S. Pietro hamlet in the municipality of Portalbera.
The passage of the parish to the diocese of Pavia led to the construction of a new church, in another location and with a different dedication. In 1817 it passed to the diocese of Tortona of which it still belongs today. The particular urban location of the church, in an area lapped by the river Po, is attributable to the Roman encampment scheme in the village of Arena. Its construction dates back to 1022, a date contained on an inscription that could be read until the early twentieth century above the central portal: TEMPLUM HOC SANCTO GEORGIO MARTIRI DICATUM AB ANNO MXXII, while the first mention of "ecclesia" is found in a document of 1152. The facade, already remodeled starting from 1560, has been totally rebuilt, following a restoration undertaken at the end of the twenties of the twentieth century following the period of Pavia restoration that began after the unification of Italy. The mullioned window above the portal is blinded by the presence of the organ, while higher up there is a cross window flanked by two oculi. The facade has a gable roof underlined by a double toothed frame and two central buttresses, on pilasters, which divide it into three parts, heralding the three-nave layout of the interior. On the portal, alternated blocks of sandstone and brick, in standing position. Other interventions on the structure of the church became necessary following the disastrous flood of 1951 and were followed by the demolition of the chapel of the Madonna Addolorata, a work of 1846 leaning against the bell tower. This, considered the oldest in the whole province, is joined to the southern side of the church and has, like most of the bell towers in the Po area, a square plan. The belfry, characterized by four large openings, one on one side and with a lowered arch, dates back to the 18th century. Built in bricks, aggregated by thin layers of lime, the bell tower has, in some points, stone inserts of different sizes, among these one of sandstone stands out, placed on the southwestern corner on which a human head of unknown origin is sculpted.
Inside, located in the counter-façade, there is still the organ, which was moved there in 1759 from its original position of the seventeenth century in "coenu Evangelii". The interior of the church has a three-nave layout by means of pillars articulated in a succession. The central nave is made up of four rectangular bays each of which corresponds to an almost square bay in the side aisles. In correspondence with the second span of the northern nave, there was the ancient chapel of the Virgin of the Rosary, now used as a Baptistery. The central nave, with longitudinal round arches, shows a higher elevation than the two lateral ones, according to the basilica typology. The main central apse is polygonal because it is the result of a reconstruction in the second half of the eighteenth century, while the original Romanesque was semicircular, like the two side apses. On the first northern pillar there is a fresco depicting the Virgin which, framed by a wooden frame, most likely dates back to the 15th or 16th century.