Chiesa di San Lorenzo

The parish church of San Lorenzo in Tremezzo stands out for its uncommon plan: a central octagon roofed by a pavilion of tiles. Its parish was erected in 1637, and it remains the religious heart of the borgo.

Why it matters

San Lorenzo is the parish church of Tremezzo, the mother church from which the borgo's spiritual geography radiates. The archive registry of the parish, held in the national SIUSA system, records that the parish of San Lorenzo was erected with a notarial act of 4 July 1637 and that its jurisdiction once reached across the hillside hamlets of Volesio, Balogno, Rogaro, Viano and the two Bolvedro. Architecturally, its octagonal central plan distinguishes it from the aisle-and-chapel churches typical of the shore, and its position, directly on the lakefront with the facade opening toward the water, makes it one of the most visible historic buildings between Cadenabbia and Bolvedro.

What to notice

The regional heritage inventory describes a compact complex of church, attached sacristy and quadrangular bell tower flanking the north side of the facade. The tower's internal well-staircase is built into the masonry with brick risers and stone treads. The walls throughout are of squared blocks of Moltrasio stone, the local grey quarry stone used across the mid-lake, rendered outside and almost entirely inside as well. The octagonal body is covered by a pyramidal roof in Marsilian tiles. Inside, the decorative campaign is attributed to Luigi Tagliaferri, a painter active in Lombardy in the later nineteenth century, so the interior finishes belong to the final enrichment of the building rather than to its origins. The volume of the octagon and the vertical of the tower were composed to be seen from the water.

Context and history

The parish's documented life begins in the seventeenth century: erected in 1637 under the notary Giovanni Antonio Rusca, San Lorenzo appears in 1651 as a parish within the pieve of Lenno, and by 1788 it was independent of the pleban seat, under community patronage, counting some 690 parishioners. Several oratories still dot the borgo within the parish's historic bounds. The present building took shape between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries according to the regional catalogue, and its interior decorations were entrusted to Luigi Tagliaferri, giving the church the appearance in which it faces the lake today. The complex remains a place of worship.