HISTORICAL TOUR

St. Mary Magdalene Parish Church in Versciaco

The church, built in 1212 and extended around 1470, sits atop one of the most beautiful church hills in the country. Master builder Firtaler raised the nave and apse, added a Gothic ribbed vault, transformed the Romanesque round windows into slender pointed arches and placed rhythmic buttresses on the outside. Remnants of gothic frescos from the 13th century.

The first church, from the 13th century, was probably a rectangular hall building with an attached apse and a flat wooden ceiling. The lower part of the present nave walls dates back to the time of its construction, as do the remainders of the frescoes depicting Saint Ursula. She was probably the original patron saint of the church that was later dedicated to Mary Magdalene.
Around 1470 San Candido master builder Andrä Firtaler began with the Gothicization of the church. The ribs, which precisely follow the vaulting, give the interior a delicate, skywards pointing form. The master builder immortalized himself with the inscription maister viertaller. The nave walls were reinforced on the outside by buttresses, giving the building a special harmony.
In the 18th century, the church underwent an albeit modest Baroque transformation. In 1910 the nave was extended by a vaulted yoke. During restoration in the mid-1960s the Baroque elements were removed.
In 1891 Versciaco became an independent parish.

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