Parrocchia della Santissima Trinità

Facing the lake near the mouth of the Telo stream, the Santissima Trinità is Argegno's parish church. Consecrated in 1929 to a design by engineer Cesare Nava, it replaced the old mother church higher in the village and gathered mosaics, sculpture and music into one neo-Romanesque interior.

Why it matters

The church remains an important part of Argegno's religious and civic history. Its historical importance is twofold. Architecturally, it is an early-20th-century neo-Romanesque building by Cesare Nava, whose work gives the lakefront its landmark profile. Artistically, it is unusually complete: stained glass and mosaic figures on the façade donated by the local Giussani family, a Trinity mosaic in the apse installed in 1972, sculptural furnishings by Gian Luigi Giudici, and the organ by Vincenzo Mascioni of Cuvio carried over from the previous church. Together they tell the story of a community that moved its centre of gravity from the medieval hillside down to the lake and then furnished its new home across several generations.

What to notice

The gabled façade has a stained-glass rose window showing saints in colour, while mosaic figures identify the four Evangelists together with Sant'Abbondio, patron of Como, and Sant'Anna, patron of Argegno — a deliberate statement of belonging to both the diocese and the village. A mosaic lunette below depicts the adolescent Jesus among three lambs. The single nave leads to the apse basin, covered in 1972 by a mosaic of the Holy Trinity that gives the church its title. The contemporary furnishings deserve close study: the tabernacle portrays the Supper at Emmaus, the altar stands on figures of the twelve Apostles with the Evangelists at the corners, and the ambo shows Jesus preaching from Simon's boat — all work of the sculptor Gian Luigi Giudici of Valmorea, with panels and lamps added in 1977. On the left wall hangs a restored 17th-century Nativity canvas saved from the old church, and on a wooden gallery at the back is the organ built by Vincenzo Mascioni of Cuvio for the previous church, supported by two substantial granite holy-water stoups.

Context and history

Until the 17th century Argegno's parish church was San Sisinnio on the terrace above the village. As the settlement expanded toward the lake, a new church was needed, and the present building was erected on a lakeside square near the mouth of the Telo to a project by Cesare Nava, replacing the old church in the village centre. The official tourism portal of Argegno records its consecration on 24 August 1929 at the hands of Bishop Adolfo Pagani. Some secondary sources give an earlier consecration date of 1927; the 1929 date from the municipal portal is used here. Decoration continued across the following decades: the apse mosaic of the Trinity was placed in September 1972, and the sculptural fittings by Giudici followed in the 1970s, so the interior reflects both the original neo-Romanesque scheme and a deliberate 20th-century artistic programme. The regional heritage catalogue of Lombardy records the church, its complex and its bell tower as protected architecture.