The presence of this first place of worship dedicated to St.Martino, bishop of Tours and French saint, was due to the presence of the Carolingians in Rassina at the time of Charlemagne in the IX century.

In the XI century, the chapel of San Martino became a Parish. The existing church, with its current dimensions, dates to the XVIII century and it was partially destroyed during the Second World War.
Its current bell tower was built in the years 1878/1883. This church had a simple façade, destroyed in World War II, and a wonderful rose window. Its existing façade was built in the years 1945/1948. Its new portico has been built with serena stone and there are not any architectural barriers.
The wonderful apse facing the Arno river to the west side of the church was renovated in the second post-war period with four single-lancet windows enriched with four artistic stained glass windows at Christmas in 1986. San Martino and St. Francis are represented at the centre and the corn and grapes, symbols of the Eucharist, are at the sides.
It is worth observing the big triptych on the right wall: at the centre there is the Virgin Mary, on the right there is St. Veronica and on the left there is St. Joseph. The three little pictures of the altar step representing the Annunciation, some adoring angles and the Nativity are precious, too. This work was carried out at the beginning of this century by a Florentine workshop, as it was required by the Countess Bastogi for the chapel of the Valenzano's castle.
Before leaving the castle, the countess gave the triptych to the Church of Rassina. At the centre of the apse, under the two central single-lancet windows, there is the wonderful crucifix made of very hard wood and carefully finished off.
It seems to have been created in the Baroque period. The big chestnut cross by Gian Maria Cardini, an artist from Carda, dates to 1978.The devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes started and grew in Rassina in the first thirty years of this century. During this period, many pilgrimages took place in Lourdes, from where a picture of the Immaculate Conception was brought and, later, put inside the chapel of the Font. The existing grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes dates to 1938, when the Font was removed and was placed inside the main church. The statues of Immaculate Conception and of St. Benedetta were added into the grotto. The small Lourdes was built thanks to the collaboration of all the people of Rassina. The peasants carried light stones from the ditch of Gargiano using ox carts, while the women of the spinning mill worked overtime in order to buy the two beautiful statues inside the grotto, where they are divided by a stream that recalls the one inside the Sanctuary of the Pyrenees.

Toscana Viva ringrazia il Sig. Claudio Sassoli ed il Comune di Castel Focognano per il materiale presente in questa pagina.