Handled chalice said of Saint Donnino

The smooth cup and foot are embossed-worked, whilst the knot, the two spacers and the handles have been fused and then worked with chisel and burin; the handles have the shape of two winged-dragons, repeated in the decoration of the knot. Used for the distribution of the eucharistic wine since when the Latin Church used the holy communion in two species (end of the XII century). After that with the insert of the knot containing a tooth of the patron, the chalice became a reliquary and was used to provide holy wine and water to the pilgrims walking through the Via Francigena or to the devoted bite by poisoning animals or dogs with rabies, binding the thaumaturgic action to the medieval symbolism of the "good dragon" whose blood was used to disinfect and heal.