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Busto Arsizio (Varese, Italy): Church of San Rocco
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 The church of San Rocco was built between 1706 and 1713 to replace a small chapel of the fifteenth century which faced the current facade. Initially the church included only a square central body covered by a ribbed vault and preceded and followed by two very short barrel vaults. On the bottom then the presbytery with a cross vault and, on both sides of the central body, two chapels: the one on the right dedicated to the Our Lady of Carmel (Fig. 5) and the left one dedicated to the Guardian Angel (Fig. 4). Finally, to the left of the presbytery there is the bell tower and to the right the sacristy.
The facade was finished only in 1895, with the positioning of the statues of Saints Rocco and Joseph.
Between 1907 and 1911 the church was enlarged through the addition of a new presbytery and of two side rooms, to extend the church on the bottom so as to allow bringing the altar further back. The pictorial decoration of the new part dates back to 1920 and is of modest quality.
The decorations of the older part of the church date back to the years 1731-1732 and are due to the brothers Salvatore and Francesco Maria Bianchi, with the collaboration of the quadraturist Giuseppe Ober.
On the central vault we have the Glory of Saint Rocco (large picture), on the spandrels the allegories of Charity, Obedience, Faith and Humility.
In the chapel of Our Lady of Carmel we have the delivery of the scapular to Saint Simon Stock, two figures of Elijah and episodes from the life of the Carmelite order.
In the chapel of the Guardian Angel there are the stories of Raphael and Tobias.
On the walls of the former presbytery there are frescoes of Saint Rocco cured by the angel and of Saint Rocco among the plague victims.
The altarpiece depicts the Vision of Saint Rocco.
Noteworthy are lso the wooden pulpit, the eighteenth-century statues of the Virgin with Child, of the scapular and of St. Anthony of Padua, the Dead Christ under the altar of the chapel of the Guardian Angel, coming from a country church called of St. Alò, now disappeared.
Currently the Church of San Rocco is granted in use to the Orthodox community, and this unfortunately makes it difficult to fully enjoy the building from an artistic point of view, since elements have been added, in particular the iconostasis, which are stylistically totally out of place and that hide some details of the church.
Categories: Places of historical value of artistic value
Via Giuseppe Lualdi, 14B, 21052 Busto Arsizio VA |
Further pictures of Church of San Rocco in the section Photography |