Croce, a high hamlet of Menaggio with a fine view over the lake, has Santi Pietro e Paolo as its parish church: the works began in 1725 and ended around the mid-19th century, while by 1758 the parish already belonged to the pieve of Menaggio.
History
The regional record dates the complex, with the church and the bell tower, between 1725 and the mid-19th century. From the parish papers, summarised in the SIUSA record, we know that in 1758 it was already included in the vicariate and pieve of Menaggio; in 1773 the parish priest received an income from the communal fund; in 1781 it had about 105 souls and in 1788, when it was under the community’s patronage, 115 parishioners. In 1893, at Bishop Andrea Ferrari’s pastoral visit, it had 216 parishioners and a net income of 466.31 lire. Within its boundaries stood the oratory of San Rocco, where in 1830 the men’s and women’s confraternities of the Blessed Sacrament were founded.
Wikipedia adds that in the mid-19th century the building was widened with the creation of the side aisles, that the bell tower in use is of 1898 and took the place of a similar one on the opposite side, and that in the 1960s the painter Monti decorated the vault of the central nave.
What to see
According to myLakeComo inside there are paintings of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, a crucifix by R. Romanelli (1856-1928), an altar frontal by Guggi, the copy of a 15th-century Tuscan polyptych, frescoes by G. Corti and an 18th-century wooden statue of the Immaculate. Wikipedia also recalls old reliquaries and other furnishings and, among the pictures, a canvas of 1634 in which Jesus, in a cassock and surrounded by twenty-two saints, is nailed to a cross covered with eight small crosses, and an 18th-century canvas of the Assumption among saints (Peter and Paul, the patrons, Joseph and Anthony Abbot).
Practical information
- The church is in the hamlet of Croce, at via San Rocco 5 (myLakeComo), in Menaggio.
- We found no official source for opening hours: it is best to ask the parish, which forms a pastoral community with Santo Stefano, Loveno and Nobiallo.
Sources
- Lombardia Beni Culturali, Chiesa dei SS. Pietro e Paolo, complesso, Menaggio (record CO250-00273)
- SIUSA, Parrocchia dei Santi Pietro e Paolo in Croce
- myLakeComo, Church of the SS. Pietro and Paolo, Menaggio
- Diocesi di Como, Comunità pastorale Menaggio, Croce, Loveno, Nobiallo
- Wikipedia, Chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo (Croce, Menaggio) entry.