Collegiate Church of Santi Gervasio e Protasio
CONTACT: +39 0342514510, Piazza Campello Sondrio, posta.collegiata@email.it, www.parrocchiesondrio.it
DIRECTIONS: the collegiate church is located to the north of the very central Piazza Campello, opposite Palazzo Pretorio, which is the town hall
DESCRIPTION:
The Collegiate Church of Santi Gervasio e Protasio is one of the oldest churches in Valtellina. It is not possible, however, to distinguish the complex layers of renovation that stretch back to 1100, the year the church was first documented. The church features a stately western façade and interior, with a nave without side aisles and a barrel vault divided into three bays. It still holds a few paintings by Pietro Ligari (the progenitor of the most illustrious family of artists from Valtellina of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries), such as the Miracle of St. Gregory the Great, St. Gervaseous and St. Protaseus. Other important works include the Death of St. Joseph by Petrini and the Martyrdom of Saints Gervasius and Protaseus by Gianolo, as well as the Baptism of Christ by Caimi, who also painted the portrait of the Blessed Archpriest Nicolò Rusco near the reliquary urn. The bell tower, which stands apart from the collegiate church, was designed by a follower of Ligari. It was left unfinished and completed in 1763.
