Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore

The Church of the Santissimo Redentore is Cernobbio’s principal parish church, built in a neo-Romanesque style with a broad three-aisled interior and frescoes by Enrico Volonterio. The parish seat transferred here from the older Church of San Vincenzo in 1935.

Why it matters

The church’s construction reflects Cernobbio’s growth and the need for a larger parish building than the historic San Vincenzo could provide. In 1935 the parish seat moved to the Santissimo Redentore, establishing its role in the town’s religious life. Its neo-Romanesque forms and fresco cycle by Enrico Volonterio mark an early twentieth-century layer in the town’s architectural history.

What to notice

The church has a Latin-cross plan with three aisles and a lowered apse. Enrico Volonterio’s frescoes include Saints Abbondio and Ambrogio, a Madonna with the Dead Christ, and the Holy Spirit surrounded by Evangelists and other saints in the apse. The façade has a serliana entrance and statues of Saints Stanislao, Ambrogio, Abbondio, Luigi and Antonio. A brick bell tower and a reproduction of the Lourdes grotto stand beside the church.

Context and history

The parish of Cernobbio was historically based at San Vincenzo. The Santissimo Redentore was built in the early twentieth century. The parish seat transferred from San Vincenzo to the new church in 1935, a date documented by the institutional record. The church also became the seat of the local vicariate. Restoration work in the presbytery area took place in the late 1990s.