The parish church, named after the eponymous martyr and built in 1649, stands on an earlier late antique building, an ecclesia Early Christian, made between the 4th and 6th centuries. In it were pagan and Christian tombs, among which in all likelihood included the memorial honoring the relics of the Scillitan martyr Sperate, placed, according to tradition, to the left of the present high altar. The presence of the precious relics of the African martyr determined, at an unspecified time, the change of the name of the town from civitas Valeria in San Sperate.
The building, built in the Gothic-Aragonese style, has a flat-ended crenellated facade, on which opens a quadrangular portal with a cornice and a segmental window. The imposing square-bore bell tower, the top of which was modified in modern times with the removal of the small dome, has two orders, with single lancet windows on each side.
The interior has a single nave, four side chapels and barrel-vaulted chancel, embellished by the altar made of polychrome marble and columned balustrades.
The church has undergone several renovations over the centuries, the latest of which was completed in July 2018. The work, necessitated by the sudden collapse of plaster and rubble from the roof of the central hall, particularly affected the roof of the nave, which was entirely restored to its original wooden form before being modified in 1936 with a reinforced concrete barrel vault.
The present wooden roof was made of solid national chestnut with steel load dividers entirely inserted concealed on the arches.
Symbolically representing the community’s attachment to the parish church, the initiative “A tile for the house of God” was organized, through which the six thousand roofing tiles of the church’s roof covering were recovered thanks to donations from fellow villagers.
