St. Bernardino’s oratory

St. Bernardino’s oratory

St. Bernardino’s oratory was built in 1450 and completely rebuilt between 1772 and 1777. The main baroque altar (which was built in 1773) is at the south end while the main entrance, at the north end, faces the square. It contains valuable frescos by Giuseppe Torricelli from Milan. The paintings of the choir as well as its roof are a precious work by the painter Carlo Giuseppe Peretti from Vigezzo.

The floor was built in 1877 with the same chessboard drawing and the same materials (white marble from Scaredi and black ophite from Scaredi) as the one of the Parish Church. The Chapel contains exquisite paintings by Polini and Sotta from Malesco, as well as those painted by Bartolomeo Roman (who studied with the famous Velasquez).

Il complesso monumentale Piazza della Chiesa

The monumental Church Square in Malesco includes all the following civil and religious buildings:

• The Prish Curch
• S. Bernardino from Siena Oratory
• The Cross-stele (Cristele)
• The House of the Friars
• The Chapel of S. Carlo
• The bell tower
• Cemetery
• The Basilisk fountain

On the square also stood a small seventeenth-century oratory dedicated to St. Rocco, then demolished to allow the new layout.

From the ecclesiastical point of view, the parish of Malesco separated from that of Santa Maria Maggiore around the middle of the XII century.