The church of San Nicola di Bari is the parish church of Stimianico, a hamlet of Cernobbio: it stands in the Casnedo area, on a rise looking over the lake, and was built in the late 18th century on the site of an oratory dedicated to Saint Charles Borromeo.
History
The parish title of Stimianico had a complicated story. According to the diocesan archives, summarised in the SIUSA record, Bishop Filippo Archinti reported in 1609 its transfer to the chapel of San Nicola in the church of the Benedictine nuns of Cernobbio, formalised on 1 March 1610. In 1651 and until the middle of the 18th century San Nicola di Stimianico was only a vicarage of the pieve of Zezio; in 1788, of royal appointment, it depended on the parish of Cernobbio and had 136 parishioners, and only in 1794 is it again recorded as a parish church.
The Pastoral Community’s site explains why the title today is San Nicola: the parishioners of the time were used to attending services in the saint’s chapel inside the monastery church, suppressed in 1784 (the name Cernobbio comes from coenobium, convent). The building at Casnedo was built in place of the oratory of San Carlo and restored in 2001. The sources date the construction a little differently: “at the end of the 18th century” for UPEL and the Pastoral Community, “straddling the 18th and 19th centuries” for Le Vie del Viandante, about 1786 for Wikipedia.
What to see
You climb to the church from a level raised above the road. The gabled facade is Baroque-inspired, with a portal topped by a rectangular window of coloured glass; the plaster is “pinkish” for UPEL and mustard-coloured for myLakeComo, with white cornices. Behind it you can see the bell tower. Inside there is a single hall with two side altars in polychrome marbles, fresco decoration on nearly all the walls and a stuccoed vault; on the high altar is a large altarpiece with the Madonna, Saint Charles Borromeo and Saint Nicholas.
Some of the furnishings come from the old oratory and some from the suppressed monastery: from there come the 17th-century Assumption on the left wall of the nave and the 18th-century Via Crucis with gilded wooden frames.
Practical information
- Address: via Monte Grappa 17, Casnedo, according to myLakeComo; Le Vie del Viandante gives piazzetta della Chiesa.
- Saint Nicholas is celebrated on 6 December. The parish also has the church of the Beata Vergine del Carmine, built in the 1930s, in Stimianico.
- We found no official source for opening hours: it is best to ask the Beata Vergine del Bisbino Pastoral Community.
Sources
- UPEL Italia, Chiese di Stimianico
- Comunità Pastorale Beata Vergine del Bisbino, Parrocchia San Nicola, Stimianico con Casnedo
- Le Vie del Viandante, Cernobbio, Chiesa di San Nicola
- SIUSA, Parrocchia di S. Nicola da Bari in Stimianico
- myLakeComo, Church of San Nicola, Cernobbio
- Wikipedia, Chiesa di San Nicola di Bari (Cernobbio) entry.
