Church of San Biagio – formerly Pieve di Santa Maria in Castello

The ancient parish church of S. Maria was the parish church of Monzambano until the 15th century, when the title was transferred to the new church of S. Michele, built “for greater convenience of the inhabitants” in the esplanade overlooking the Mincio river at the foot of of the castle.
The original body of the building, currently used as a private residence in the northern part and instead occupied in the south by the neoclassical oratory dedicated to S. Biagio, must have appeared as a building with a single rectangular nave measuring 13.60 x 10.80 m, culminating in three apses , the remains of which are still clearly recognisable.

On the opposite side, however, a rose window and above all the primitive access portal have recently been brought to light, the upper part of which is today visible, consisting of a round arch in Roman-type bricks and stones which finds significant comparisons in architecture of the the last Lombard age.
Outside the building, an archaeological excavation made it possible to identify a large cemetery area, which must have extended well beyond the limits of the current small square, and numerous wall structures prior to the construction of the castle.

Having lost its parish title, the church of S. Maria – whose benefit was also enjoyed for a certain time by the humanist cardinal Pietro Bembo – became part of the possessions of the Olivetan congregation of S. Maria in Organo and belonged to it until its suppression of the institution which occurred in the Napoleonic period.
A few decades later, in 1835, Mr. Tron finally created the oratory dedicated to S. Biagio in the eastern side of the monument, built in simple and dry neoclassical forms.