Santi Lorenzo e Agata

View from the village

The Catholic parish church of Santi Lorenzo e Agata stands in the south of the village of Rossura on a small hill. Rossura is a fraction of Faido in the canton of Ticino in the Leventina .

history

The first written mention of today's single-nave church dates from 1247. The double patronage suggests that a Romanesque predecessor building had two aisles. A piece of him has been preserved on the north wall, where remains of an image of St. Christopher have been preserved above the ossuary that was added in 1894 . It was restored in 2006.

inner space

The dimensions of the first church were only a quarter of the current building. In the 15th century it was expanded to include the choir. The current building with a retracted polygonal choir and side chapels was built in the 16th century. The flat wooden ceiling was replaced in the 18th century by cross vaults in the nave and a barrel vault in the choir. The canopy in front of the portal on the west side was built in the 17th century.

The Way of the Cross, which leads around the church hill, dates from the second half of the 17th century.

In 1911, 1948 and 1964 the church was restored. Further extensive restorations were carried out from 2003 to 2005 by the Ticino architects Pia Durisch and Aldo Nolli. The upper part of the interior of the church is in good condition. The lower walls are in dire need of renovation.

graveyard
Ossuary below the image of Cristophorus

Paintings

Inscription of the Seregno brothers

The frescoes inside the church date from different eras. The pictures to the left and right of the entrance are by Cristoforo and Nicolao da Seregno . Saints Rochus, Sebastian and Girolamo are depicted to the right of the portal. At the top right they have left an inscription: Xpoforos (Cristoforo) et Nicola da Lugario pixerunt MCCCCLXIII (1463). Mary Magdalene and Saint Lawrence (?) Are depicted on the left.

The large fresco by an unknown painter on the north wall is well preserved. It dates back to the 14th century and was discovered during the 1964 restoration. The saints Girolamo, Martin and Chiara (?) Are depicted under a communion on the left, a scourge scene in the middle and the saints Bernhard and Ambrosius on the right.

Among these pictures are other paintings from the 12th or 13th century. Remnants of it are visible on the right side. Two heads of saints have been preserved further up, and on the opposite side remains of Renaissance paintings , all from the mid-16th century.

The green marble imitation and the more recent pictures such as the depiction of Saints Ambrose and Agata on both sides of the altar come from the painters Calgari from the neighboring village of Osco from around 1875. The wooden door on the left side of the choir, painted in a deceptively real way, is striking.