Chiesa di San Martino

The Church of San Martino in Casate, a hamlet of Lierna, stands along the historic road toward Grumo. The church was documented by 1436 and rebuilt in 1868; its interior preserves a marble altar, devotional paintings and a nineteenth-century fresco.

Why it matters

San Martino served the hillside borgo of Casate before its present structure was built. Notarial records cited by the parish document a church and cemetery on the site in 1436. The building’s history links the hillside communities of Lierna with the parish network and the medieval road between Casate and Grumo.

What to notice

The interior contains a polychrome-marble altar and an older altarpiece of the Virgin with Saints Martin and Ambrose. A nineteenth-century fresco depicts the Transit of Saint Joseph. The parish records relics of Saint Charles, Saint Colombano, Saint Perpetua and Saint Diletto. Two niches beside the entrance held human bones until 1950.

Context and history

Notarial records place a church and cemetery at the site in 1436. The present church was rebuilt in 1868 on the older site. The two niches beside the entrance contained human bones until 1950; local oral traditions are associated with them, although the parish record documents their presence and removal rather than the stories themselves. The church’s furnishings include a devotional altarpiece of uncertain date, a nineteenth-century fresco and relics associated with the Ambrosian tradition.