LarioLago di Como

What to See · Churches

Church of San Provino

Ramo di Como

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San Provino is a small church in Como’s old town, wedged between the buildings of piazza Roma and via Rodari: it has a Romanesque bell tower, late Gothic chapels and a history that perhaps begins in Lombard times. On 22 September 1794 Alessandro Volta and Teresa Peregrini were married here, and today it hosts the Romanian Orthodox parish of Saint Gregory Palamas.

History

The sources cautiously trace the church’s origin to Lombard times. It was originally dedicated to Saint Anthony, but it is unclear whether the Abbot or the martyr Antoninus. The change of title is traditionally placed in 1096, when Bishop Guido Grimoldi brought here the remains of Provinus, Como’s second bishop, kept until then in the church of Saints Gervasius and Protasius, outside the walls and now gone; the site santiebeati.it instead gives 1118 as the date of the translation. The regional record places the construction between the 11th and the end of the 14th century.

Between the 11th and 12th centuries the building was rebuilt in Romanesque forms: a single hall with an apse and a bell tower at the corner of the facade. From at least 1295 it depended on the abbey of Sant’Abbondio, and the De Orchi family had the right to propose the rector. Between the 14th and 15th centuries the church ended up inside the walls of the Visconti Citadel, the fortress the Milanese wanted in order to control Como. It was a parish church from the 12th century until 1787, when the parish merged with the cathedral’s.

After the mid-15th century a narrow aisle was added to the north of the hall, later divided into late Gothic chapels; afterwards the choir and the nave’s lunetted barrel vault were redone, and in the 17th century the bell chamber was raised. The facade’s present look comes from the 1972 restoration, which brought the Romanesque parts to light and highlighted the bell tower. The urn with Provinus’s relics stood on the high altar until 1933 and is now in the Sanctuary of the Crucifix. On 22 September 1794 the wedding of Alessandro Volta was celebrated here, who chose a secluded church for a private marriage, with Teresa Peregrini, one of the seven Peregrini sisters (alessandrovolta.it).

What to see

From outside only the facade is visible, facing a recess of piazza Roma, at the corner with via Rodari, with the Romanesque bell tower. Inside the hall has four bays, and on the south wall is the 18th-century altar of the Beata Vergine del Carmine, with a 17th-century wooden statue of the Madonna from the suppressed church of San Nazaro. The Neoclassical high altar is from the early 19th century and has as its altarpiece a 17th-century Saint Provinus in Glory, thought to be by Pietro Martire Buzzi, a painter from Como.

The chapels on the north side keep traces of the transformations. The first, dedicated to Saint Martha, was closed and used as a sacristy between the 17th and 18th centuries, and reopened with the 1972 restoration. The second is of Saint Roch, with a wooden statue from between the 16th and 17th centuries and, according to Wikipedia, a marble relief attributed to the Rodari workshop. Next comes that of the Guardian Angel, once of Saints Peter and Paul, with a 17th-century altarpiece. The fourth was rededicated in 1789 to house a 15th-century wooden Crucifix from the suppressed church of Santo Stefano, which belonged to a confraternity of flagellants. La Provincia di Como however reports that the transfer took place in the 19th century, when Santo Stefano was demolished, and that in 2015 the restored Crucifix was shown in the cathedral ahead of the future Cathedral Treasury: we have not verified where it is today.

Practical information

  • The church is in piazza Roma, at the corner with via Rodari, and is the seat of the Romanian Orthodox parish of Saint Gregory Palamas.
  • We found no official source for opening hours: it is best to ask the community that uses it.
  • The Cathedral of Como is a few steps away.

Sources

On the map

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