Angera

Church of Saints Cosma and Damiano Barzola

11th century bell-tower,

18th- 20th century church

A church dedicated to Saint Quiricus in Barzora locality is documented in the late 13th century; this was perhaps the church of Barzola in the parish of Angera which since the 16th century has been dedicated to Saints Cosmas and Damian.
The slender, elegant bell-tower seems to be part of the original building that dates to the early second millennium; it is one of the oldest and best-preserved in the Province of Varese.
The vivid colour of the masonry is due to the use of a mixture of river cobbles, gneiss, granite, brick/tile and re-used material. This construction practice is typical of southern Lake Maggiore, where the scarcity of building stone has led to the use of all available materials.
The wall surfaces are embellished with pilastered panels and blind arcades and the openings widen upwards; the uppermost is a two-mullioned window.
The church was comprehensively rebuilt in the 18th century on the base of the original medieval construction, and enlarged in the 1940s.
Inside, frescoes on the vault of the apse show the symbols of the Four Evangelists, while on the wall behind the altar there is a painting of the Madonna di Fatima by Paolo Rivetta, placed at the centre of a fresco showing angels at prayer.

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