What to See · Churches

Church of San Giacomo

Ramo di Como

San Giacomo, in piazza Grimoldi behind the Broletto, is a Romanesque basilica in Como’s centre: born in the 11th century beside the cathedral, it was the seat of the Commune’s assemblies and then, cut in half and turned into a Baroque church, became largely Romanesque again with 20th-century restorations. Since January 2022 it has been a building site: the diocese plans to keep it open for worship and to place part of the future Cathedral Museum there.

History

The founding date is unknown and the oldest document citing the church is from 1144. The most accepted hypothesis, recalled in the regional record, places it in the last years of the episcopate of Rainaldo, who died in 1084, from stylistic comparisons with Sant’Abbondio, which has the same cylindrical pillars and the motif of two towers, and because Rainaldo took part in 1084 in founding the Cluniac abbey of Vertemate. The question is not closed, because San Giacomo does not appear among the churches consecrated in 1096 by Urban II. A diocesan chronology speaks of a dedication to Saint James the Greater in 1143-1144, and of Frederick Barbarossa’s presence in the church in 1161.

The basilica stood between the bishop’s palace and the Duomo, aligned with the latter, and according to scholars it was the second element of a “double cathedral”. Civic function soon prevailed, however: the new Commune’s assemblies met there, a tower housed the bell that called the council (until 1292) and the square in front took the name Cumano broletto, until in 1215 the actual Broletto rose there. By 1279 it was already a parish seat. Between 1335 and 1447 it was enclosed in the Visconti Citadel, and during the struggles between the Vittani and Rusconi the porch was badly damaged.

After a pastoral visit in 1578 found it in poor condition, the Commune had the part towards the square demolished: Bishop Ninguarda noted in 1590 that the first five bays had been pulled down, while a diocesan chronology dates the demolition to 1585, with the new facade painted to a design by Giovanni Antonio Piotti da Vacallo. In the mid-17th century the church was transformed in Baroque forms (1657-1661): columns reduced to pillars, cross vaults in the nave, the lantern removed, side apses closed into sacristies. In 1672, according to the Cathedral Chapter’s record, Pope Clement X entrusted the parish to the fathers of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri, while the diocesan chronology gives 1668 for the Oratory’s arrival. The French suppressed the Congregation in 1798 and 1800, and the church became a subsidiary of the cathedral.

The 1970 restoration gave the lantern back its octagonal plan and mullioned windows and replaced the trusses, raising them to their old pitch; the Baroque was largely removed. The porch left beside the Broletto tower had been demolished between 1924 and 1926 according to the diocesan chronology, in 1927 for the regional record, and the facade was restored in 1995.

The building site since 2022

The works, financed by the bequest of Gabriella Pizzochero Salvini (ten million euros, according to La Provincia), began in January 2022 to a design by Giorgio Orsini. The first phase included archaeological digs, an overhaul of the stone-slab roof, the consolidation of a 17th-century stair turret and of the bell-gable, and the restoration of the apse area, squeezed for centuries between civil buildings. The movable works were placed in storage for the duration, and behind the Crucifix altarpiece attributed to Montalto an unpublished fresco of a Crucifixion appeared, part of the church before the Baroque remodelling. The building is subject to subsidence and is monitored.

The diocese gave the first phase as concluded in December 2023; on 23 December 2024 La Provincia reported the first lot complete and announced the second phase, with the executive project due in spring 2025. According to the restoration coordinator, Stefano Della Torre, San Giacomo must remain a church in daily use and take in a selection of the Duomo museum’s treasures, beginning with the large canvases from San Giovanni Pedemonte, besides a multimedia display based on the three-dimensional surveys of the digs. We found no 2026 news and no announcement of a reopening date.

What to see

The gabled facade, ochre-coloured, is decorated with faux marble and has a large thermal window and, at the top, the Triumph of the Cross; above the roof is a small bell-gable. The regional record attributes its present layout, with niches either side of the portal and a central Serliana, to 16th-century works. The apse, with its gallery of seven arches on small columns, is hard to see because it is surrounded by houses, which from the 16th century belonged to the Odescalchi and since the 19th century have been divided into many units.

Inside, three naves with brick columns and capitals with chamfered corners, similar to those of Sant’Abbondio, a transept and a central apse with seven niches holding the Romanesque choir. Before the works the apse half-dome kept the Pentecost frescoed in the mid-17th century by Giovanni Battista Colomba. In the right chapel of the transept stood an altar with Saint Philip Neri adoring the Crucified (about 1680, attributed to Montalto) and in the neighbouring one a Saint Joseph of about 1740, by Giovan Battista Pittoni. The Martyrdom of Saint James, attributed to the Recchi, is instead in the church of San Provino.

Practical information

The church is in piazza Guido Grimoldi, behind the Broletto, a few steps from the Duomo, of which it is a subsidiary.
With the works under way, we found no official source for opening hours nor confirmation that it can be visited: it is best to ask the cathedral parish before going.

Sources

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