Outside the centre of Gravedona, near the lake and next to the church of Santa Maria del Tiglio, stands the parish church of San Vincenzo: built in the 11th century on an older place of worship, repeatedly remodelled, it has beneath the presbytery a large Romanesque crypt dedicated to Saint Anthony.
History
The place had been sacred for centuries: during work in the crypt, between 1977 and 1979, three pagan altars of Roman age came to light, a tomb and fragments of sculpture, including a capital of the 1st-2nd century (LoveLakeComo). An early Christian church of the 5th century is thought to have taken the place of the Roman temples, and part of that floor remains in the crypt. The Romanesque church was built in the 11th century and consecrated in September 1072; it had three aisles with three apses, an endonarthex and three doors, and the southern one gave access to the crypt (Lombardia Beni Culturali). Its present look is due above all to the radical Baroque transformation of the 17th century.
What to see
A portico on columns, running on three sides, precedes the pilastered facade with a triangular pediment and links the church to two small buildings housing the oratories of Santa Marta and San Michele, seats of the confraternities of Santa Marta and of the Blessed Sacrament. On the base of the facade and on the sides the unplastered walls show the Romanesque structure.
The interior has a single nave with side chapels and a decoration that is largely 18th-century. The presbytery is the most interesting part: two canvases by Michelangelo Bellotti of 1735 show Saint Vincent before the Sultan and his martyrdom, and the Glory of Saint Vincent in the apse is by the Intelvi painter Carlo Innocenzo Carloni, to whom the perspective views of the vault are also attributed. The polychrome marble altar and the wooden choir are from the end of the 18th century. In the chapels you can note a canvas of Saint Jerome attributed to the Veronese Alessandro Turchi and a Holy Family attributed to Giovanni Baglione. From the church you go down to the crypt of Saint Anthony, which originally had seven small aisles and three apses and is now reduced to three rooms, with columns with early medieval and Romanesque capitals and, in the main apse, remains of 14th-century frescoes (Lombardia Beni Culturali).
Practical information
- Address: via Roma 31, Gravedona ed Uniti. According to the Comune access is free during the hours open to the public, which are not given.
- Not far away, the church of Santa Maria del Tiglio and the sanctuary of the Madonna delle Lacrime at Dongo.
Sources
- Lombardia Beni Culturali, Chiesa di S. Vincenzo - complesso, Gravedona ed Uniti
- LoveLakeComo, Visit the Church of San Vincenzo in Gravedona and the awesome crypt
- Comune di Gravedona ed Uniti, Chiesa di San Vincenzo
- Wikipedia, Chiesa di San Vincenzo (Gravedona) entry.