The Pieve di San Stefano in Cennano is typical of a class of small rural churches called "pievi" found throughout Tuscany, Umbria and Emilia - Romagna. These romanesque churches were built from the 7th to the 13th centuries and incorporate many interesting architectural features.

The basic form of these pievi is rectangular, with 3 apses and two rows of columns from front to back. They are usually built on an east-west orientation with the facade facing west. Typically they are of rough hewn soft stone and adorned with an assortment of pagan images.

The term "pievi" is thought to have come from the Latin "plebs", denoting their function among the common people. These crudely built rural churches were built to spread Christianity into the pagan hinterlands of medieval Italy by providing a place where baptisms might be performed.

The text for this website is from a historical marker in the Pieve di San Stefano provided by the Confraternita di San Bernardino, who maintain the pieve. The translation into English is by Mike Cochran who has created this website as an homage to a structure and to a historical movement.