Chiesa di San Pier d'Agrino

San Pier d'Agrino stands among olive groves above Bogliaco, within Gargnano's territory. Its three-aisled interior combines a later-sixteenth-century architectural framework with marble altars and paintings added through subsequent patronage.

Why it matters

The church became an independent parish in 1405, separating from the pieve of Gargnano. The Bettoni family's commissions connect the rural church with a wider history of local artistic patronage.

What to notice

Grey stone Doric columns divide the three aisles. Cristoforo Benedetti created the polychrome-marble high altar and the Guardian Angel altar for the Bettoni family. Andrea Celesti's painting for the latter shows the Madonna with Saint Anthony of Padua, the Guardian Angel and Saint Liborius. Pase Pace's early-seventeenth-century high-altarpiece depicts Saints Peter, Paul and Andrew.

Context and history

The standing church took shape in the second half of the sixteenth century, with side chapels subsequently enriching its original arrangement. Later paintings include Girolamo Pilotti's 1597 work for the Holy Cross altar and Alessandro Campi's early-eighteenth-century painting for the Suffrage altar. These additions reveal successive commissions rather than a single decorative campaign.