Pieve

In Italy in the Middle Ages, a pieve (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpjɛːve], Corsican: [ˈpjɛvɛ]; Latin: plebe; pl.: pievi) was a rural church with a baptistery, upon which other churches without baptisteries depended. Pieve is also an Italian and Corsican term signifying the medieval ecclesiastical/administrative territory of its the mother church. It has thus become a common component of both place names and of the names of churches. The Italian word pieve is descended from Latin plebs which, after...