The basilica of Sant’Abbondio stands just outside Como’s walls, on the old via Regina: it has five naves and two twin bell towers beside the apse, a solution of Rhenish origin that is rare in Italy, and in the choir a fresco cycle of the life of Christ. It was consecrated by Pope Urban II on 3 June 1095.
History
Beneath today’s church lie the foundations of an early Christian basilica, the Basilica Apostolorum, with a single nave, a Latin-cross plan and a U-shaped narthex. The funerary inscriptions found in the digs date between 485 and 584, and for the foundation scholars waver between the end of the 4th century (Bishop Felix, Como’s first bishop) and the mid-5th (Bishop Amantius, who according to Benedetto Giovio laid there the relics of the apostles Peter and Paul brought from Rome). The title of Sant’Abbondio appears for the first time in a privilege of Louis the Pious of 818; it is thought to be older, because Bishop Abundius was buried there in the 5th century. In the Carolingian period the church had a rich furnishing of marble slabs, discovered in the 19th century.
Between 1007 and 1013, depending on the source, Bishop Alberic entrusted the church to the Benedictines. The monks rebuilt the building, which Pope Urban II consecrated in 1095 while passing through Como; the difference in quality between the apse and the naves suggests that the building site was less linear than it seems. In the 13th century a porticoed atrium was added to the facade. The abbey passed into commend in 1475: Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio had the church remade in classicist forms from 1586 with Giovanni Antonio Piotti, with vaults in the naves, the large window in the facade and the demolition of the atrium. In 1616 the church and monastery went to the Augustinian nuns of San Tommaso di Civiglio, and a screen divided the space between the faithful and the nuns. One of the two bell towers collapsed in 1784: the northern one according to Mondi Medievali, the right-hand one according to the regional record.
The monastery was suppressed in the late 18th century and long lay abandoned, until in 1834 Bishop Carlo Romanò moved the seminary there. From 1863 to 1874 Canon Serafino Balestra led a restoration to return to the Romanesque dress, documented by Camillo Boito, which also rebuilt the fallen bell tower. Further restorations, between 1927 and 1936 with the engineer Antonio Giussani, brought out the frescoes of the choir’s first bay. In 1933 Bishop Alessandro Macchi consecrated the new altar, under which lie the relics of the bishops Abundius, Consul and Exuperantius. The complex, abandoned in the mid-20th century, was bought in 1974 by the Comune di Como and today the former monastery hosts the University of Insubria.
What to see
The exterior is of stone, with a facade of five stepped sections matching the five naves, blind arches under the roof and four half-columns, the only trace of the medieval portico. The capitals of the portal have eaglets, doves and a feline head; the apse and the long choir have saw-tooth cornices and decorated windows. On the other side the two twin bell towers, one rebuilt, give the basilica its vertical profile.
Inside, brick columns carry the central nave and slimmer columns the aisles, with a great variety of capitals, from cubic to Corinthian-style. The foundations of the early Christian basilica are marked on the floor by white and black slabs. The choir, originally reserved for the monks, has in the apse the fresco cycle with twenty scenes from the life of Christ, with the Nativity at the top and the Passion at the bottom, and in the half-dome Christ blessing between the Madonna, the Baptist and Saints Peter and Paul. UPEL, Italia.it and the regional record date it to the 14th century and Wikipedia, citing recent studies, to 1315-1324; the basilica’s own site instead attributes it to an anonymous painter of the early 16th century, at odds with the other sources. On the choir vault a sky of stars was painted using powdered lapis lazuli. Under the altar rest the relics of the three holy bishops, and near the altar is a statue of Saint Abundius that the basilica’s site attributes to Tommaso Rodari (1490) and other sources to Cristoforo Solari.
Next to the basilica survive part of the cloister and, at the far end of the complex, the former church of Saints Cosmas and Damian, deconsecrated, of the 11th century, with a trussed ceiling and a few ancient frescoes (UPEL).
Practical information
- The basilica is at via Regina Teodolinda 35, Como. The official site gives opening every day from 7.30 to 18.30 (Italia.it reports 8-18); Sunday Mass is at 16.30, and in July and August at 20.30.
- We found no other information on fees or guided visits.
Sources
- Basilica di sant’Abbondio, official site and Orari page
- Lombardia Beni Culturali, Basilica di S. Abbondio, via Regina 35
- UPEL Italia, Basilica di Sant’Abbondio, ex Monastero e ex chiesa dei santi Cosma e Damiano
- Italia.it, Basilica of Sant’Abbondio
- Mondi Medievali, Como: Sant’Abondio
- Gite in Lombardia, Basilica di Sant’Abbondio
- Wikipedia, Basilica di Sant’Abbondio entry.
