Chiesa di San Bernardino

San Bernardino stands in Salò's western historic quarter. Its present proportions reflect a substantial rebuilding after earthquake damage and the collapse of the nave roof in the early twentieth century.

Why it matters

The church records the religious identity of the western borgo and the effects of disaster on its architecture. Its history reaches back to an earlier oratory known as della Disciplina, remembered in Borgo Belfiore around 1440.

What to notice

A stone portal and rose window occupy the centre of the facade, framed by pilasters and niches. The interior has a single nave and two shallow side chapels. An eighteenth-century wooden Immaculate Conception stands in a carved rococo frame on the left; a twentieth-century plaster Saint Joseph occupies the opposite chapel. Both altars include imitation-marble stucco.

Context and history

Approval for the later church was granted on 24 January 1476 following a petition from residents of the western borgo. The earthquake of 1901 damaged the building, and the nave roof collapsed in 1910. Reconstruction shortened the church by about a third; it was reconsecrated in October that year.