An inscribed Roman tombstone has been found in an indeterminate site of the locality (1). In 835 the Canonica of S. Michele of Reggio possessed two "massericie" (2). Gavassa was named again in 857 in a diploma of Louis II and in an act of Charles the Fat in 883 in favor of the Church of Reggio (3). The "villa" of Gavassa is mentioned in 956 (4). The court of Gavassa was one of the assets that made up the patrimony of Matilda of Canossa. The Monastery of St. Prospero had obtained property there since 1015 (5) as well as the Monastery of St. Raphael from 1016 and the church of St. James Major from 1170 (6). In 1166 Guelph VI, grandson of Countess Matilda, invested the property in Gherardo Rangone (7).In the Estimo of 1315 there is the Municipality of Gavassa with 40 men (26 sharecroppers, 4 citizens and 10 inhabitants in the house of others) (8). In 1663 it comprised 430 inhabitants and at the end of the eighteenth century 941 (9). In 1756 there is a mountain frumentario (10). Gavassa always belonged to the Commune of Reggio except from 1805 to 1807 when, with Massenzatico and Penizzo, it was under the Commune of Budrio (11). The Church is named in 1171 and is dedicated to St. Floriano Martire (12). It is marked in the lists of the Tithes of 1302 and 1318 among the employees of the Cathedral Canons (13). During the visit of Bishop Cervini in 1543 the church was little more than a small poorly covered oratory, with wooden ceiling, a single ship and four side altars. In 1575 restorations were made to the floor, ceiling and fixtures.In 1615 the renovation of the building began with the construction of the choir, the face of the nave and the plastering by the master builder Camillo Galliera S. Biagio Correggio. Other interior works, including the construction of the Chapel of the Rosary, continued until 1617. The Visit of Cardinal Rinaldo d'Este (1652) indicates the church with a single nave, not very large, with painted choir, three doors and three altars. From the plan reported in the Marliani Visit of 1663 it is observed to the north, outside the main wall of the church and at the height of the high altar, the tower; between this and the side chapel was the sacristy while the rectory was in the morning of the church and had been built in 1647 (14).
In 1833 the building was lengthened by a third and partly renovated in its present form on a design by Andrea Tarabusi (15). The building has a gabled facade oriented liturgically, with portal architrave and oculo central. The slender and elegant bell tower ended with a double-mullioned cell.