The church of San Bartolomeo stands in the village of Valnogaredo, a fraction of Cinto Euganeo, in the heart of the Euganean Hills.
It is considered one of the most interesting religious monuments of the 18th century in Veneto; its foundation is connected to the presence of the noble Venetian family of Contarini, who owned vast land holdings in this area since the 15th century.
The Contarini had the church built with a rectory in the immediate vicinity of their house, the sumptuous Villa Contarini, which still represents the focal point of the village today.
The new place of worship soon became the parish seat of the valley, and the Contarini, through a papal bull of 1519, acquired the jus patronato, which obliged them to support the maintenance of the church in exchange for the right to appoint the parish priest.
Brothers Angelo and Giulio Contarini had the current church rebuilt in 1758, as the previous one was dilapidated and insufficient to accommodate the increased number of parishioners. Subsequently, the jus patronato passed to the various heirs of the Contarini family, until the counts Zorzi, new owners of the Villa of Valnogaredo, demonstrated total disinterest in the appointment of the parish priest, and in 1876 the Padua Episcopate definitively took over this right.
History recounts that Adeodatus I succeeded Pope Boniface IV in October 615, after having served for forty years as a priest in Rome. His pontificate lasted only three years, until November 8, 618, the day of his death. Pope Adeodatus I was buried in St. Peter's Basilica, but in the 17th century his mortal remains were transferred to Valnogaredo at the behest of Pope Innocent XII, who donated them to the noble Domenico Contarini.
