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HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHURCH

San Biagio's church in Cittiglio, stands on a little high ground overlooking the surrounding territory, which was already settled in Prehistory. As it is shown in some mouldings and two epigraphs, which are now held in the Museo Civico in Como , the area was also settled in Roman time. Probably the copy of one of these two was used as old threshold of the church until the 19th century.

LOMBARD OR EARLY MEDIEVAL AGE (8th -10th century AD):
The church was built around 8th century AD, it was smaller than now and also dedicated to Saint Andrew, naming that then it lost. According to the first document about San Biagio dated on June 11th 1235, the building rose as private church, which belonged to a noble family of military castrum. In this church the members of the noble family could have a worthy burial. It was a single hall church with a opposed orientation to the modern one, with its altar and apse turned to east (under the modern entry) and its main portal to west.

FIRST ROMANESQUE PERIOD (980 – 1020)
The early medieval hall was torn down almost completely, where the bell tower would be built in the south-east corner. As a result the church would be widened by a third to the south and east side. The
entrance with two or three steps would have allowed the access to the hall. The bell tower was provided with a cell opened on three sides by mullioned windows, which were held by mullions with ancient crutch-shaped capitals. This particular characteristic allowed the scholars to date the bell tower between the end of 900 and 1020.

SECOND ROMANESQUE PERIOD (1050-1075)
They built a exonarthex with funeral purpose, probably reserved to the familial descendants of the founders of the original chapel. The structure that was put before in the west side was as wide as the hall and it was about half its length long.
The facade of the exonarthex is now visible in the sacristy. From the few traces of plaster left on the entrance arch, it is possible to see the point of a bishop's mitre, that maybe belonged to the image of the Bishop Blaise, which was painted however, during Renaissance. So, for a short time, church and exonarthex were separated from the facade of the church itself.

LATE MEDIEVAL AGE (first half of 14th century AD)
In that period the facade that separated the church from the exonarthex was torn down in order to create a liturgical hall. The level of the floor was extremely raised.

1627-1635
Thanks to the documents of the pastoral meetings, it is known that right in those years the orientation of the church was changed. Probably with a functional aim the old apse was torn down to create an entry into the building and the presbytery was moved to the west side. It was decided to raise the floor again and to build the ossuary-crypt and to lean it to the northern wall of the church.

After 1722
They built the modern sacristy.

20th century AD
Structural recovery interventions and building’s renovation.

WORKS WITHIN THE CHURCH
(numbers refer to the maps on the left page)
1. Northern wall (next to the modern entrance): fresco of the “ Winged Dragon” (partially preserved), dated between 13th and 14th century AD
2. Old apse’s wall (besides and under the modern entrance): medieval velarium decorated with flower patterns and a representation of a "Chimera". 11th century AD.
3. Archivolt of the modern entrance wall: Prophet Elias, a rare Lombard fresco, dated in the second half of 14th century AD.
4. Northern wall: Saint Blaise (?), a rare Lombard work, dated in the first half of 15th century AD.
5. Major altar: Madonna of the rosary, Saint Andrew and Saint Blaise, rare Lombard oil painting on canvas, dated in the second half of 17th century AD.
6. Major Altar: scagliola antependium (a hanging filled by a chalk mixture) showing in the middle the image of St Blaise, rare intelvese, dated in 17th century AD. Author: Giovanni Battista Rapa (?)

THE ARCHAELOGICAL EXCAVATIONS
The archaeological excavations carried out between 2006 and 2009 within the church allowed to understand the history of this building deeply and critically, digging up old architectural structures and different finds.
They found 21 coins dated between 11th and the end of 16th century AD, as well as other ancient items buried within the church, such as bowls, knives, pieces of cloth, a ring, buckles, studs and other decorations. Among these finds of particular historical value, we report the rests of a typical shell of Santiago de Compostela: evidence of the likely pilgrimage of an inhabitant of Cittiglio, who lived in medieval time.
The excavations also allowed to discover 24 tombs (intended for adults and kinds), which refer to a space of time that goes from 11th to 16th century AD, as attested in some medieval coins, found within the tombs.

EVENTS IN SAN BIAGIO
Saint Blaise’s feast, on the occasion of the Saint’s feast, on February 3rd

• The “Gnoccata in San Biagio” (lunch and dinner with typical Gnocchi, a particular kind of local pasta), that usually takes place the last week-end of August o more rarely, the first week-end of Septembre.
In these occasions it will be possible to visit the church and to see the archaeological excavations.

"Art’s Week-end”, guided tour by booking each first Saturday and Sunday of the month.

It is possible to book the guided tour into the church for groups of people and students also during the week, by booking (10 days in advance).

The events are organized by “Friends of San Biagio”, a group born in Cittiglio in 1988 and that together with the Parish worked in order to find the funds needed to carry out the works of renovation for the church.

INFORMATIONS AND CONTACTS


 How to reach it…

• By car, coming from Milan, Como and Switzerland..
Following the indications to Varese then to Laveno up to Cittiglio

• By BUS or by TRAIN up to the FNM of Cittiglio’s stop
San Biagio’s church is 200 meter from the station and the bus stop.

 INFO: http://sanbiagiocittiglio.blogspot.com /
amicidisanbiagio@libero.it or 0332/60.21.31

The church renovation was possible thanks to the helpfulness of the parish in Cittiglio, to the commitment of " Friends of San Biagio ", to the work of the local Associations, to the contribute of all citizens who took part in the initiatives launched for the church , to the financing sent by the "Regione Lombardia", to the "Provincia di Varese", to the "Comunity Foundation for the Varesotto" and to the"Banca Popolare di Bergamo".

Thanks to: Alessio Manicone