The basilica of Sant’Eufemia, on the Isola Comacina, is today a ruin, but its plan is still easy to read and the crypt has survived: it is a monument of Como Romanesque. It is visited inside the island’s archaeological park, which is paid and open from May to October.
History
On the origins the sources differ. A tradition, recalled in the document by which the Bishop of Como Litigerius founded the canonry in 1031, says that Bishop Abundius, returning from the Council of Chalcedon in the mid-5th century, introduced the saint’s cult there and built an oratory, later restored by Litigerius. In the early 7th century Bishop Agrippinus was buried on the island, whose long funerary epigraph, now in the church of Sant’Eufemia d’Isola, recalls his work of evangelising the Alto Lario, tied to the patriarchate of Aquileia; the dates of his episcopate are 606-616 for the regional record and 607-617 for other sources. The cult of Saint Euphemia was dear to followers of the Three Chapters schism, and in Como the cathedral basilica on which San Fedele later rose was dedicated to her. Recent research has found, beneath the basilica, the remains of a late antique church.
For the Romanesque basilica, Ugo Monneret de Villard (1914) tied it to the foundation of 1031; the scholar Porter dated it later, towards the end of the century and in parallel with Sant’Abbondio; Arslan and Magni returned to a date around 1030, because of the octagonal supports typical of early Romanesque. In 1169 the Comaschi, allied with Frederick Barbarossa, razed the island with all its churches and walls, and since then the island has not been inhabited. The destruction almost to the foundations, except the crypt, spared the basilica the transformations and the 19th- and 20th-century restorations that have compromised other Romanesque monuments. The ruins re-emerged with Monneret de Villard’s digs of 1914 and Luigi Mario Belloni’s of 1958-1978; more recently a porch contemporary with the church was found and the smaller right apse freed. Many pieces, among them Agrippinus’s epigraph, were reused by the survivors for the arch-priestly church of Sant’Eufemia at Isola, today a hamlet of Ossuccio.
What to see
You can recognise a three-nave basilica, with the central one very wide, divided from the side aisles, oddly raised, by two rows of five octagonal pillars, which in the last pair towards the presbytery become multi-columned. The three apses, with no transept, were preceded by vaulted bays; the roof of the nave was perhaps trussed. The raised presbytery stands above a large oratory-type crypt, with cross vaults, niches along the walls and eight reconstructed columns, reached by two entrances. The bell tower stood against the south part of the facade, joined to a porch of which the foundations remain, and the facade had a single door, while on the north side there were two. The blocks are of small stone, in fairly regular courses. A series of blocks in the church suggests a meeting place. For Wikipedia the length exceeds 40 metres.
The park also includes the remains of Santi Faustino e Giovita, of San Pietro in Castello and of Santa Maria col Portico, a medieval tower-house, the two-apse baptistery with mosaics and, beneath the church of San Giovanni Battista, a Roman colonnade. The church of San Giovanni, rebuilt in the 17th century, was restored and reconsecrated in 2008.
Practical information
- According to the Comune di Tremezzina’s site, the island is open from May to the end of October, every day from 10 to 18; the restaurant, bar and toilets are closed indefinitely.
- A ticket is needed to visit the island, bought at the Antiquarium in Ossuccio (museum open Thursday to Sunday from 11 to 17, May to October) or at the automatic ticket machine on the island, which accepts cards only; those without one risk fines. Prices are on the island’s site.
- You arrive by boat with Navigazione Lago di Como or by private taxi boat.
- To learn more about the island see the Isola Comacina entry.
Sources
- Isola Comacina, official site of the Comune di Tremezzina
- Lombardia Beni Culturali, Chiesa di S. Giovanni e resti di S. Eufemia (record CO250-00047)
- Como e il suo Lago, Basilica di Sant’Eufemia sull’isola Comacina
- Associazione Culturale Isola Comacina, L’Isola Comacina
- FAI, Isola Comacina: Case degli artisti, chiesa di S. Giovanni, resti della basilica di S. Eufemia
- Wikipedia, Basilica di Sant’Eufemia (Tremezzina) entry.
