Church of San Vitale

DESCRIPTION:
The church is dedicated to St. Vitalis and St. Valeria of Milan, the parents of the patron saints of Bormio Gervasius and Protasius, and is one of the oldest in the Bormio area. The earliest documents that make reference to the church date from 1196. The simple and basic architectural structure of the church still has a few elements that attest to its original Romanesque shape, such as the small arches found on the exterior of the apse. One of the most important frescoes in the building is the Sunday Christ, a painting that depicts a nude Christ surrounded by ploughs, oven peels, wagons and other work implements, reminding the faithful to honour the holy days and warning that work is forbidden on Sundays and feast days. The work is a good example of the Biblia Pauperum (the Paupers' Bible, or rather a way of communicating with the illiterate faithful through a sort of catechism in images. An additional reason for the importance of the Church of San Vitale is the bas-relief depicting two warriors in green stone from Campello, which was discovered in 1944 when work was being done near the church. The carving, which has been dated late second century BC based on iconographic analysis, is now housed in the “Paolo Giovio” Civic Archaeological Museum in Como. A plaster cast of the bas-relief, produced when it was discovered, is displayed in the Civic Museum in Bormio.