One of the greatest examples of Romanesque architecture and one of the oldest sacred buildings in the Valle Intelvi, this small oratory dates back to 1000 AD. Over the centuries, it underwent so many interventions that we need to divide its development into various stages, which are better explained in the research of professor Marco Lazzati. We have reproduced them here:
Phase I (C. X-XI?) Probably a Romanesque oratory with two square aisles, about 7 metres long. It perhaps had a semicircular apse (not documented for now). Smaller dimensions than those which are typical of the Romanesque oratories in the area (generally 10 - 12 m long). The only part of this building left is a section of the north wall. |
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Phase II (C. XV-XVI) Gothic-Renaissance oratory, incorporating a residual section of the north wall of the previous Romanesque building. Rectangular apse frescoed at the beginning of the sixteenth century, with paintings from roughly the same period of time · Nursing Madonna among the Saints Silvestro and Antonio Abate (GA De Magistris, 1506) · lunette with the benedictory Father and the Evangelists · base with the Months of the year |
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Phase III (first half of C. XVII) Coverage of the nave with a barrel vault. Construction of the lower part of the old sacristy. Frescoes with Saints Sebastian and Roch(1634) next to the central one by De Magistris (1506). |
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Phase IV (second half of C. XVII) Construction of the bell tower and raising of the old sacristy. Subsequently (C. XVIII) the vault of the nave was frescoed. |
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Phase V (last years of C. XVIII) Demolition of the facade and contemporary construction of the "new church" to the west, composed of a transept, a new nave and a rectangular apse with rounded corners. Decoration of the "new church" with neoclassical motifs. |
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Phase VI (C. XIX?) Construction of the new sacristy. |
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Phase VII (ca. 1930) Closing of the nave-bell tower passage. Opening of the sacristy-bell tower passage. Closure (probably in this phase) of access to the north "transept". |
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Today the building has no facade because it is set up as the union of two opposing churches: the older one in the East and the more recent one in the West.
For this reason,there are two presbyters and two sacristies inside. The bell tower is next to the oldest eastern apse. Rich in interesting frescoes which were restored by the Superintendency of Environmental and Architectural Heritage in the 1990s, the most interesting decoration is found in the lower register of the apse: a cycle of months which is unique in this region. The external masonry is irregular and has undergone a recent renovation. The anniversary of Saint Silvester is still celebrated on 31st December to this day.