Chiesa San Giuseppe

The date of the first construction of the church of Piana dates back to 1540-41. In the minutes of the pastoral visit of the bishop of Vicenza, Matteo Priuli, from 1568, it is indeed deduced that this dates back twenty-seven years earlier. The first church of Piana, although small, was at the time of its founding sufficient to meet the needs of the community, which then consisted of about fifty families. It was only after the demographic increase recorded around the mid-seventeenth century, with an increase in the population of Piana, that the capacity of the church no longer seemed adequate. It was for this reason that on August 30, 1652, the curate Don Giacomo Tessari asked the bishop for permission to expand the building. The original facade was therefore demolished and the nave was extended forward. Despite these expansion works, after less than a century, the capacity of the church proved insufficient once again. This is why in 1764, the then curate Virgilio Testolin requested and obtained permission to proceed with the demolition and reconstruction of the building in order to meet the needs of a community that was gradually expanding. The works for the construction of the church of Piana in its current version began in 1765 and were completed towards the end of 1780, not without the commitment and contribution of the entire community. Today, the church appears much larger than it was initially built. Inside, one can admire an ancient baptismal font, consecrated in 1575, the three ancient altars, and two more recent ones: one dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua and the other dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. The construction of the bell tower of the Church of Piana has followed somewhat different circumstances from those of the main building. The current bell tower was in fact erected between 1745 and 1756 and already existed before the start of the last works on the church. The old bell tower, although not many historical sources remain regarding it, is thought to have been built concurrently with the first church. Some architectural elements suggest that this structure housed two bells.