Collegiata di San Giovanni Battista

Morbegno's collegiate church rises like a pale monolith at the northern edge of the historic centre, its curvilinear facade crowned with nine statues. Begun in 1680 on the initiative of the archpriest Giovanni Battista Castelli Sannazzaro, it took a century to complete, and its elliptical interior contains a distinguished collection of paintings.

Why it matters

Together with the Ponte di Ganda, San Giovanni’s facade has represented Morbegno for more than two centuries. Within the diocese, the church is ranked second in dignity only to Como Cathedral, reflecting its collegiate status. Construction began on 14 April 1680, yet the names of the architects have not survived; the first mass was celebrated in 1714 and the facade was finished only in 1780. Its interior contains canvases by the Venetian Gianbattista Pittoni and the largest group of works by Pietro Ligari, regarded as a leading Valtellina painter. Thirty-seven canvases were stolen from the church in 1995.

What to notice

The facade curves gently and carries nine statues among decorations carved in local ghiandone stone, attributed to sculptor Stefano Salterio. The figures represent personages of the Old and New Testament alongside symbols of the Catholic faith, a late Counter-Reformation programme in stone. Few windows give direct light; in Baroque fashion, illumination enters from above through hidden openings. The plan is a great ellipse with its long axis set longitudinally, ringed by chapels — two principal ones dedicated to the Madonna del Carmine and the Santo Spirito, two minor ones by the entrance, one formerly housing the baptismal font and the other dedicated to San Domenico, and four more framed by the pillars that carry the dome: San Michele Arcangelo, San Giuseppe, San Filippo Neri and the Deposizione. The second chapel on the left contains Pittoni’s Virgin enthroned with the Child and San Filippo Neri; Andrea Lanzani’s Transito di San Giuseppe is in the fourth chapel on the right. The apse frescoes and multiple altarpieces are the work of Pietro Ligari, who also designed the high altar, the reliquary that holds the Sacra Spina, and a fine wooden catafalque.

Context and history

The church replaced an older building dedicated to the same saint, which had itself taken over from San Pietro in the borgo as the town's principal church. Beside the church stands the former monastery of the Presentazione, founded in 1664 by Margherita Fontana and Domenica Passamonti under the Augustinian rule and active until the Napoleonic suppression of 1798; its walls still show fragments of frescoes.