The Church of San Fermo, one of the jewels of Valbelluna, stands on a hill that serves as a watershed between Sedico and Socchieva, towards the Piave.
The imposing building, at the center of a small village, once pulsed with strong devotion and attention. The faithful, by putting their heads inside the stone niche beneath the left side altar, concentrated in prayer thanks to a natural backdrop: according to an oral tradition, the noise that could be heard from that position came from a nearby underground water spring.
The Church was expanded starting in 1624, on the remains of a previous smaller building dating back to the 6th century, and shows externally the marks of time, such as infillings, alterations, and additions of decorations. Consecrated in 1672, it enriched with most of the artworks in the 19th century, under the rectorship of Giuseppe Zuliani (1808-1846), who selected important paintings and furnishings from Napoleonic soldiers, coming from the churches that Napoleon closed.
What makes the Church famous are two plutei dating back to the initial structure, walled externally, from the early Christian period, 17th-century wooden altars, works on canvas by Francesco Frigimelica, and important sculptural groups and stalls by Andrea Brustolon.
Also noteworthy – in cornu Epistolae – is an interesting and rare example of a dressed Madonna, known as “of the spasms,” and, to the left, above the niche containing the relic of the Saint, the gilded wooden statue representing Saint Firmus, recently attributed to Matteo Cesa (around 1500), a devotional object that was carried in procession until 1996.
