Chiesa di San Rocco

San Rocco is a small church in Morbegno with a single vaulted nave and a semicircular apse. Its history records the role of lay religious associations in completing and caring for a neighbourhood place of worship.

Why it matters

Begun around 1520 and left unfinished, the church was taken over and completed by the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament in 1612. Its later association with the Congregazione di San Raffaele links it with an organisation for young artisans.

What to notice

A small sacristy occupies one side of the building, with a bell gable on the other. Above the single altar stands a grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. This replaced an earlier altarpiece depicting the Blessed Sacrament with Saints Rocco, Sebastiano, Benigno, Carlo, Francesco and Lorenzo.

Context and history

The building underwent repeated alterations. In the early twentieth century, demolition of the portal in front of the church and the passage above it was followed by a neoclassical remodelling of the facade. Lay trustees also played a part in the church's administration.