Sasso Mobile

There are still a few ancient monuments remaining in Oliveto: traces of an 11th century castle; the Oratory of St. Mary of the Graces, which was already in existance in the year 1000 and has recently been restored; the bell tower of the parish church of St. Paul, with its side entrance instead of façade, which houses a 17th century altarpiece attributed to the Bolognese painter Elisabetta Sirani; a large Medieval building known as the Jew's Big House (Casa Grande dell'Ebreo), home to the local Jewish community and the first bank in the region, which displays an old, cracked, terracotta plaque whose barely discernable Latin writing indicates the date of construction: 1410 by Salomon Mathasia; and finally the “Bronzina,” built in the late Middle-Ages (except for its tower, built in the 11th century). In 1527 the Bronzina hosted the Grandees of Spain, and later, in about the 16th century, was used as a hospital to isolate and treat people struck with diseases during the various epidemics, and then turned into a bronze foundry in 1775.