The Pieve di San Donato, a thousand-year-old Romanesque church, is located in Polenta, a hamlet of Bertinoro. It is mentioned for the first time in documents dating back to 911. In 1705, an epigraph placed above the entrance recalls radical restoration works. Later, in 1898, work began to rebuild the bell tower, which was completed the following year.
Today, the parish church has a basilica form with uncovered beams and the central nave is not raised. The columns are large and round and are surmounted by capitals that form the most characteristic part of the historic monument. They have characters of different arts, from Lombard to Byzantine.
Another peculiarity is given by the crypt, which occupies the space below the presbytery, ending in a semicircle under the demolished apse. In the churchyard there is a memorial to Giosuè Carducci, inaugurated in 1932. From the day Carducci made it the subject of his song, the "Church of Polenta" rose to national fame.
