Collegiata di San Leonardo

The collegiate church of San Leonardo is Pallanza's historic parish church on Lake Maggiore. Built between 1535 and 1590, it preserves a Renaissance-era structure, a tall bell tower and paintings attributed to Tanzio da Varallo.

Why it matters

San Leonardo served Pallanza before the modern municipality of Verbania existed and remains a defining religious and architectural presence on the lakefront. Its paintings and furnishings reflect the artistic and devotional life of the community from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries onward.

What to notice

The church has three aisles with cross vaults on pink Baveno granite columns and three polygonal apses. Four canvases attributed to Tanzio da Varallo hang near the presbytery. The furnishings include a seventeenth-century altar, pulpit and choir, while the organ built by Eugenio Biroldi dates to 1797. The austere bell tower rises above the lakeside quarter.

Context and history

The present church replaced Pallanza's medieval parish building. Construction began in 1535 and was completed in 1590. The bell tower was built in stages, with its dome and lantern completed in 1689. Paintings attributed to Tanzio da Varallo arrived in the early seventeenth century. A venerated image of San Carlo Borromeo is associated with a devotional tradition dating to the plague of 1630.