Idro

THE CHURCH OF SAINT MICHELE

In the interior one can appreciate triumphal wooden carvings in a successful mix of creativity, art and religious symbols.
Perhaps, the wooden Crucifix, a rare example of a Renaissance crucifix, could have been made by Lamberti. The great artist moved from Brescia at the beginning of 16th century to reach the Pieve di Condino where he carved magnificent artworks. The crucifix in Idro owns all the elements to be placed near these works.
In addition to the sculpture of the 16th century there are a series of handicrafts made by the Boscaì family studio since the second half of the 17th century until the first half of the 18th century. Among them are all the soasas of the altars, the ciborium of the high altar, an extremely elegant and splendid small temple, which has been irreparably ruined by the human avidity, and the choir of the pipe organ. The atmosphere of the San Michele church is dominated by the bright and dark of these carvings and by the gleams of the pure gold, which are an invitation to the reflection and a delight for the spirit.

THE CHURCH OF SAINT MARIA AD UNDAS IN IDRO

The parish of Idro is dedicated to the Virgin, who is defined as Santa Maria ad undas. “Ad undas” means “on the wave”, because originally it was located much closer to the water of Lake Idro compared with now.
Its function of parish guaranteed the control of a vast territory, which extended from Vestone to Anfo and included the area of Treviso Bresciano. The parish was the true matrix church of this territory and was uniquely responsible for the Christian education and for the administration of the sacraments, particularly for the baptism.
The church is situated in a strategic position next to the lake, where in the past the bridge connecting the two shores of the lake was set.
The shrine was along the road that linked the dioceses of Trento and Brescia and signed the border with the Venetian dominion. Nowadays, it is found on the road connecting the province of Trento (Trentino) and the region of Lombardia.
It is possible that the church was erected over the site where the first Christian community of the settlement, called Pontis, had its religious celebrations. Furthermore, one can suppose that Pontis was related to the ancient settlement Rhaetic-Roman which was located on the top of the plateau of Castel Antico and was inhabited until the 5th and 6th century.
The interior of the church still conserves gravestones of the Roman era. For their importance, parts of these gravestones were transported to the Christian Museum of the Capitolium of Brescia.
Within the progressive consolidation of the Christian cult, the religious place assumed the function of parish and the first edifice was erected around the 11th century. In the same period some possessions of the monastery of Leno were documented in the area of Idro.
During the restoration carried out in 1995, remains of walls and foundations dating back to this first phase were discovered under the flooring.
The most ancient part that still remains is the apse, which perhaps dates back to the 12th century, while the base of the bell tower dates back to the 13th century.
In the middle of the 15th century the church underwent some modifications that brought about its actual shape, by maintaining the apse which now appears to be out of alignment with the structure.
At the beginning of the 17th century the parish church of Saint Michele was built and, at the same time, a new ecclesiastic organization for the parishes was determined. These two events signed an unrecoverable loss of importance of the parish, which was transformed in a subsidiary church of the parish of Idro.
Architecture
Today, the aspect of the church is an outcome of various modifications. The exterior appears extremely simple, decorated only by a rose window on the façade and a cornice with fired bricks along the garret. The main entrance is situated on the long side of the church towards the lake. There is not an entrance on the main façade, as usually found. The reason for such a peculiarity is because the church was flanked on both sides by kitchen gardens and constructions on the short side and the long side towards the road, as it is shown by photographic pictures. After a series of works made in the 1960’s, the church was ‘ripped’ from its historical context, by creating a car park on the long side of the church and a staircase by the façade, opening a space where the kitchen gardens were situated.
Pictorial decoration
As already mentioned, the most ancient part of the edifice is the apse which is completely decorated with frescoes. With a careful analysis it is possible to notice that there are three layers of overlapping frescoes. The first of which was painted between the 13th and 14th century shows friezes and adornments on the inferior part of the vault of the apse. A second strata, painted around the half of the 14th century, added to the adornments a fabric that surrounds the perimeter. The last strata, which was uncovered by the partial restoration of the 1990’s, was painted in the second half of the 15th century. These frescoes represent an iconographic cycle more articulated than the preceding frescoes. It includes a Theory of the XII Apostles, the symbols of the Evangelists and an almond-shape Christ referring to an ancient Byzantine tradition, which is detectable in the example of the Dome of Monreale and the hermitage of Montemaria in Burgusio.
The area of the apse also preserves an art work of extreme importance. It is a masonry altar which constitutes an entirely frescoed polyptych. In the central part, the Madonna with the Infant and Saints are visible. It is also important for the dating, the presence of the monogram of Saint Bernardino, canonized in 1450, which signs a date of the second half of the century. The artist is not identifiable with certainty but he demonstrates a knowingness of the culture of the court of Milan, for instance Giovannino de Grassi and in particulary Tarocchi dei Bembo, of whom he proposes exact quotations as for Saint Antonio Abate.
The other part of the church is frescoed for the most part. They are frescoes painted in various periods, yet most of them date back to the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century.
In many cases the decorations are still concealed under a coat of lime which was laid by order of the Bishop when, as a consequence of the new dogmas of the Council of Trento, this type of decoration no longer responded to the style and to the expectations of the ecclesiastic class.

THE CHURCH OF SAINT ROCCO

The church, which is located in Crone, was erected over a chapel existing in the 15th century and reconstructed around 1720. Inside the church is a grand wood Crucifixion and a valuable soasa made by the Boscaì studio, carvers of Levrange. It is also notable the altar-piece that portrays the “Madonna with the Infant, Saint Rocco and Saint Calimero”.

THE CHURCH OF SAINT SEBASTIANO

The little church was reconstructed in the 17th century above the village of Lemprato.

Bibliografia:

L. FOSSATI, Idro e la sua pieve, Brescia, 1937,
A. FAPPANI, S. Maria ad Undas, in I Santuari Bresciani, vol. 2, Brescia, 1972, pp. 70-73,
A. BONOMI, L’antica pieve di Santa Maria ad Undas, in Idro e il suo lago. Documenti e itinerari nella storia di una comunità, a cura di A. Bonomi, Brescia, 1996, pp. 284-293,
L. GHIDINELLI, La pieve di Santa Maria ad Undas attraverso i secoli, in Idro e il suo lago. Documenti e itinerari nella storia di una comunità, a cura di A. Bonomi, Brescia, 1996, pp. 209-227