Assunta: A Renaissance and Baroque Sanctuary in Morbegno, Italy
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Italy
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Duchy of Milan
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Sanctuary
On this page15 sections
History
Assunta is a Roman Catholic sanctuary in Morbegno, Italy, dedicated to the Assumption of Mary and Saint Lawrence, an early Christian deacon and martyr. Its present form developed from an early fifteenth-century church and combines Renaissance architecture with later Baroque decoration.
Foundation and Marian devotion
The earlier church was dedicated to Saints Lawrence and Bernard. It was being built near a place known as the Croseta in 1418 and had been completed by 1425 at the latest. An Assumption confraternity of the Disciplini, a penitential lay brotherhood involved in religious devotion and charity, was already documented in 1416. During the sixteenth century, the confraternity gave the church its present dedication.
From about 1440, growing numbers of pilgrims came to venerate a Marian fresco kept in the church. The increased devotion led to the enlargement and reorientation of the original building between the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. A further extension followed at the end of the sixteenth century. The church was consecrated in 1506.
Renaissance transformation
Around 1503, Giovanni Antonio Amadeo and his pupils, including Tommaso Rodari, carried out major work on the building. These interventions gave the exterior its Lombard Renaissance character, while artistic stained-glass windows were produced by Domenico Cazzanore of Blevio between 1503 and 1534. Rodari also made the stone portal on the facade in 1517.
Baroque decoration and later additions
The interior was transformed through several decorative campaigns between 1703 and 1768. Pietro Bianchi, known as Bustini, worked on the frescoes from 1703 to 1706, followed by Giuseppe Brina of Bergamo in 1709 and 1710. Giovan Pietro Romegialli of Morbegno completed another campaign in 1768. Illusionistic architectural painting, designed to make surfaces appear more elaborate or spatially extended, was added by Giuseppe Porro of Milan in 1768 and Giovanni Battista Pozzi of Porlezza between 1709 and 1711.
The bell tower was constructed in several phases and raised between 1730 and 1733. It reached approximately 50 metres and became the tallest bell tower in Morbegno. An ossuary, a structure for housing human bones, was installed at its base in 1739 and received macabre scenes during the second half of the eighteenth century.
Remains
The sanctuary preserves a Renaissance exterior alongside an interior shaped by Baroque and Baroque-derived painting. Its principal surviving elements include the decorated facade, the tall bell tower and ossuary, the Assumption altarpiece, the relic chapel, paintings, frescoes, stained glass, and two Assumption lunettes on the eastern and western sides.
Facade and bell tower
Renaissance facade
The facade is centered on a portal made from Saltrio stone by Tommaso Rodari in 1517. Above it is a flamboyant rose window, while the remaining windows are also attributed to Rodari. Together with the other work associated with Amadeo and his workshop, these features express the building’s Lombard Renaissance exterior.
Bell tower and ossuary
The bell tower rises to about 50 metres and was built in successive phases before being raised between 1730 and 1733. At its foot stands the ossuary installed in 1739. Its decoration includes macabre scenes added during the later eighteenth century.
Altarpiece and devotional features
Assumption altarpiece
The interior is dominated by a wooden altarpiece dedicated to the Assumption. Tiburzio and Giovan Angelo Del Maino carved it between 1516 and 1526, and Gaudenzio Ferrari and Fermo Stella supplied its paintings. The lower section, known as the predella, contains scenes taken directly from engravings by Albrecht Durer, the German Renaissance artist. The altarpiece also houses the Marian fresco that attracted devotion to the earlier church.
Chapel of the Relics
The chapel on the right is known as the Chapel of the Relics or the Chapel of the Assumption. It contains the remains of Saint Prospero the Martyr within an elaborate display reliquary, a container designed to present sacred relics visibly.
Paintings and lunettes
The sanctuary contains a canvas of the Nativity of the Virgin attributed to Gaudenzio Ferrari. It also has a seventeenth-century painting copied from a work by Luca Giordano, an Italian Baroque painter. An Assumption lunette survives on the east side and another on the west side.
Frescoes and stained glass
Baroque-derived fresco cycle
A widespread cycle of frescoes covers the interior in a Baroque-derived style. The work was completed through separate campaigns by Pietro Bianchi between 1703 and 1706, Giuseppe Brina in 1709 and 1710, and Giovan Pietro Romegialli in 1768. Giuseppe Porro and Giovanni Battista Pozzi added painted architectural effects that extend the decorative program across the building’s surfaces.
Stained-glass windows
Domenico Cazzanore of Blevio produced a series of artistic stained-glass windows between 1503 and 1534. These windows belong to the sanctuary’s Renaissance artistic phase and complement the facade and sculptural work associated with the early sixteenth-century transformation.
