The church of Saints Vitale and Valeria, in the Olate district of Lecco, is for Lecco Tourism, the municipality and eccoLecco the church of Don Abbondio in “The Betrothed”; another tradition, however, points to San Giorgio in Acquate.
What it is
It is the parish church of Olate, in piazza Santi Vitale e Valeria. For the Comune di Lecco it is a place of worship with a history going back to the thirteenth century, founded in 1232; in the sixteenth century it was enlarged and dedicated to Saints Vitale and Valeria, in 1767 it was rebuilt keeping only the bell tower of the original building, and in 1934 the nave was lengthened and the small-baroque façade restored. On some points the sources do not agree. The nave dates from 1765 according to eccoLecco and in-Lombardia, while the municipality and Lecco Tourism speak of a rebuilding in 1767. The bell tower is fourteenth-century, at least in part, for eccoLecco and fifteenth-century for in-Lombardia. According to Lecco News the works began in the fifteenth century and the church took the form we know in 1765, with differences from a 1919 postcard, for example in the bell tower’s roof.
In the novel
For the official sources of Lecco this is the church where, in chapter XXXVIII, Don Abbondio finally marries Renzo and Lucia: the protagonists, according to scholars cited by Lecco Tourism, belonged to this parish. It is a few steps from the presumed house of Lucia in Olate, about fifty metres according to in-Lombardia,. The municipality considers it one of the main Manzoni sites of the city. Lecco Tourism presents it as “Don Abbondio’s church”.
Two churches for Don Abbondio
In Lecco two churches contend for the title. eccoLecco writes that there are two in the city that can be traced to Don Abbondio, the one in Olate and the one of San Giorgio in Acquate, and that according to tradition the first, near Lucia’s house, is the place of the wedding. The church of San Giorgio, in piazza Sagrato Don Abbondio, is the one that popular tradition links to the failed wedding and that gives the square its name. Wikivoyage also lists both, one as “official” and one as “traditional”. For the foundation, both the municipality and in-Lombardia give 1232 for Olate, and our sources give the same year for San Giorgio too: it is another thing we cannot reconcile.
Practical information
- Address: piazza Santi Vitale e Valeria, Lecco. Parish telephone given by the municipality: 0341 498282.
- For Mass times and access the municipality refers to the Lecco deanery’s website: we do not publish times that change.
- Nearby: the presumed house of Lucia in Olate (private, with no page of its own), the traditional house of Lucia in Acquate and, on the Zucco, the Palazzotto di Don Rodrigo; the Manzoni’s Lecco itinerary also includes San Giorgio.
Sources
- Comune di Lecco, Chiesa dei Santi Martiri Vitale e Valeria
- Lecco Tourism, Chiesa di Don Abbondio
- in-Lombardia, Church of Don Abbondio
- eccoLecco, Don Abbondio’s Church (updated 2 October 2023)
- Lecco News, «Lecco ieri e oggi: chiesa dei SS. Vitale e Valeria e casa di Don Abbondio»
- Wikivoyage, Luoghi manzoniani
