Santa Maria Maggiore (Piedmont)

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Santa Maria Maggiore
coat of arms
Santa Maria Maggiore (Italy)
Santa Maria Maggiore
Country Italy
region Piedmont
province Verbano-Cusio-Ossola  (VB)
Coordinates 46 ° 8 ′  N , 8 ° 28 ′  E Coordinates: 46 ° 8 ′ 0 ″  N , 8 ° 28 ′ 0 ″  E
height 840  m slm
surface 53 km²
Residents 1,290 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density 24 inhabitants / km²
Post Code 28038
prefix 0324
ISTAT number 103062
Popular name sammariesi
Patron saint Assumption of the Virgin Mary ( August 15 )
Website Santa Maria Maggiore
The village of Santa Maria Maggiore
The village of Santa Maria Maggiore
Ossola Valley in the Piedmont region

Santa Maria Maggiore is an Italian municipality in the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola (VB) in the Piedmont region and is the holder of the Bandiera Arancione of the TCI .

Via Gian Maria Farina in Santa Maria Maggiore

geography

Santa Maria Maggiore is located in the Valle Vigezzo , not far from the border with the Swiss canton of Ticino , where the valley is called Centovalli . The municipal area covers an area of ​​53.71  km² . Santa Maria Maggiore includes the groups Buttogno and Crana.

The neighboring communities are Campo (Vallemaggia) ( Ticino ), Craveggia , Druogno , Malesco , Masera , Montecrestese , Toceno , Trontano and Vergeletto (Ticino).

history

The first settlement in the area dates back to Roman times and is evidenced by tombstones erected in the 1st century AD. During an excavation in 1971 for the construction of a drinking water pipeline a large board was one and a half meters deep found were found among the materials that are part of a funeral establishment: a Olpe more reddish paste, Poculo (glass) of black paste, a cup of black paste , a cup of yellow paste, cup fragments and ampoules.

In the 13th century the first houses were built around the church. In addition to the priests, the notaries of the valley also lived around the church. Over time, the population grew: a parchment from 1267 shows that 12 families lived in Santa Maria at that time. In the 14th century, the podestà della Valle settled in Santa Maria Maggiore, near the church, attracting a greater number of residents. Towards the end of the 15th century, members of seven families from Craveggia, later called Seven Houses , moved to Santa Maria Maggiore: Balconi, Menabene, Rossi, Farina, Mellerio, Borgnis and Simonis. At that time the city was only called Santa Maria , the name Santa Maria Maggiore was added in the 2nd half of the 16th century because of the religious and secular importance of the village. For a long time, however, Santa Maria Maggiore remained a hamlet of Crana, it was not until 1804 that the municipality of Santa Maria Maggiore was established, and the municipalities of Crana and Buttogno were connected to it.

population

Population development
year 1861 1871 1881 1901 1911 1921 1931 1936 1951 1971 1981 1991 2001 2016 2018
Residents 1188 1255 1196 1059 1163 1109 1081 1082 1205 1215 1272 1256 1207 1276 1301

Attractions

  • Parish Church of Santa Maria Assunta: the current building was completely rebuilt between 1733 and 1742 and was consecrated in 1770 by Aurelio Balbis Bertone, Bishop of Novara. From the earlier church in Lombard Romanesque style only the mentioned bell tower has been preserved and was largely financed by Giovanni Paolo Feminis, the inventor of the cologne : the parish gratefully placed his portrait over the entrance door to the sacristy. The church consists of a single large nave and, together with the church of Domodossola and the nearby Craveggia [13], is considered to be the most beautiful and grandiose church in Ossola. The interior is decorated with frescoes by two important painters: Lorenzo Peretti from the Buttogno fraction and Giuseppe Mattia Borgnis from Craveggia (born February 23, 1701 in Craveggia; † 1761 West Wycombe ), who are considered the undisputed fathers of the fresco of the Valle Vigezzo .
  • Church of San Giovanni Evangelista in the Crana fraction was first mentioned in 1483, although it was almost completely rebuilt in 1744. The entire cost of building the church was borne by Gian Paolo Feminis from Crana. The main altar of the church houses a 17th century altarpiece depicting Saint John the Baptist and the Virgin Mary. The fresco on the dome from 1745 is considered to be one of the best works by the painter Giuseppe Mattia Borgnis, who also painted the oval paintings with the Saints Defendente , Bernardo da Mentone , Sebastiano and Vittore .
  • Oratory San Rocco in the Crana fraction was built by the people of Crana for ex-voto to escape the danger of a terrible plague flood of 1529–1530. The interior of the oratory is entirely painted with twelve frescoes depicting the life of San Rocco by the Lombard painter Giovanni Battista da Legnano from the 16th century.
  • Church of San Lorenzo in the Buttogno district built in the middle of the 17th century, the small portico from 1775 and the bell tower from 1776. In addition to the 17th century side chapels, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin of Mercy and the Holy Crucifix, the fresco Trionfo di San Lorenzo painted in 1803 by Lorenzo Peretti is noteworthy . The frescoes in the presbytery: Martirio di San Lorenzo e I miracoli di Sant'Antonio Abate are by Carlo Giuseppe Peretti, the son of Lorenzo.
  • Torre de Rubeis (or Torre Simonis) in the historic center of Santa Maria Maggiore, overlooking Piazza Risorgimento, dates back to the 14th century. The powerful de Rubeis family built their own house with towers and for the rest of the mules and horses a stable and a large inner courtyard surrounded by a stone wall. The tower now houses a private collection of 136 drawings depicting reliefs and reconstructions of the old houses of the Vigezzo Valley. In summer, the Fondo per l'Ambiente Italiano (FAI) organizes special guided tours.
  • Villa Antonia, built in the 18th century by the Rossetti family, is now the seat of the municipality. The first owners decided to build the villa, inspired by the transalpine buildings, with a sloping roof and underground floor walls. In addition, as painters, they enriched their home with various frescoes and decorated it very much: the lead glasses painted with naturalistic motifs, which were realized in Zurich in 1780, are particularly valuable.
  • Museo internazionale dello Spazzacamino (Museum of the Chimney Sweep) at Villa Antonia is a unique reality in Italy. Opened in 1983 and renovated in 2005, the museum offers visitors an original multi-sensory journey to discover the hard work of the chimney sweep, fundamental for the inhabitants of the Valle Vigezzo for several centuries (from the 16th to the 20th centuries).
  • Casa Mandamentale or Old Town Hall is in the central Piazza Risorgimento; it was the old seat of the praetor of the Vigezzo valley. Later it housed the Consiglio di Valle and the Consiglio comunale . The building is decorated with geometric colors and is made up of different parts from various eras. The side tower with the old prisons is the oldest part, the small hall with round arches dates from the 17th century, while the south-facing part dates from the 19th century. It has recently been converted into exhibition space available to the community, which organizes numerous exhibitions each year.

Personalities

  • Giorgio Bernardi (1606 Buttogno-1670 Domodossola), sculptor and altar builder
  • Johann Maria Farina , inventor of a scented water, which he called Eau de Cologne / Cologne water . The town's most famous son, Johann Maria Farina, joined his brother Jean Baptiste's company in Cologne in 1714 and created a new fragrance there. He made Cologne world famous as a scent city.
  • Francesco Antonio Cavalli (* 1835 Santa Maria Maggiore-Paris?), Painter

photos

  • Parish Church of Santa Maria Assunta

  • Romanich bell tower

  • Santa Maria Maggiore seen from Colma

  • Casa Farina in Via Gian Maria Farina

  • Old parish hall, Casa Mandamentale

literature

  • Various authors: Comuni della Provincia del Verbano-Cusio-Ossola. Consiglio Regionale del Piemonte, Chieri 2012, ISBN 9788896074503 .
  • Various authors: Il Piemonte paese per paese. Bonechi Editore, Firenze 1996, ISBN 88-8029-156-4 .
  • Various authors: Piemonte (non compresa Torino). Touring Club Italiano, Milano 1976, p. 644, Santa Maria Maggiore online (Italian)

Web links

Commons : Santa Maria Maggiore  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Statistiche demografiche ISTAT. Monthly population statistics of the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica , as of December 31 of 2019.
  2. ↑ Bandiera Arancione. In: Bandierearancioni.it. Retrieved May 9, 2018 (Italian).
  3. ↑ Lorenzo Peretti (Italian) on icandreatestore.it/webspace/risorseterritoriali
  4. ^ Giorgio Bernardi. In: Sikart
  5. ^ Francesco Antonio Cavalli. In: Sikart