BLACK AND WHITE STONE STRIPES ON A RARE MEDIEVAL MONUMENT ON LAKE COMO SHORES (GRAVEDONA, ITALY)

 

© Photos: ROBERTO ALBORGHETTI

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Gravedona is a nice town on Lake Como (Italy). A really stunning medieval monument rises along the banks, a few meters from lake waters. It’s a rare church, Santa Maria del Tiglio, Saint Mary of the Lime-tree (in fact, behind the monument, close to the lake shore, you may see some of these beautiful trees).

Its architectural design was created by the famous “Maestri Comacini” (Comacini Masters). It is an example of the romanesque period in Como dated around the second half of XII Century. It is built over a former baptistry (V Century) dedicated to St. John the Baptist.

Unique in its kind, it was built with black and white stones on which raised symbols can be read. Pilasters, vaulted arches, arrow slits, embrasures, profiles and string courses on the windows, columns, arcades, apses and oculi express “Maestri Comacini” inspiration and creativity. Inside the church – where you breath an enchanting atmosphere – some of the grey stones bring frescos (made between XIV and XV Century) as “St. John the Baptist”, “The Wise Men”, “The Holy Trinity”, “The Adoption of the Wise Men”, and an episode from the “Life of St. Julian”. Also of great iconographic interest is the fresco “The Day of Judgement”, with Giottesque traces to be seen. Beside the church, you have to visit the beautiful crypt, with an extraordinary serie of columns, dated from XII century and built on a pre-existing Palaeo-Christian basilica.

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