Provaglio Valle Sabbia

CHURCH OF SAINT FRANCESCO

The church is located in the village of Barnico and was built over an ancient capital on the side of the road towards Mastanico. In this place, once lived a man known as Graziolo Pace di Pietro, who had tremendous devotion for this capital so much so, that at his death, he left written in the will to take care of the capital. The devotion for this capital grew so much that the people living in Barnico thought to build a small church oriented towards East (towards Orient) with altar but without choir.
The construction of such a building was carried out in around the year 1646. Later, in 1684 it was allowed to celebrate the Mass. Between 1703-1704 the church was enlarged and enriched with hangings and furnishings. Thanks to a donation of land by Francesco Pasini q. Giovanni around 1728, it was possible to attach the sacristy and the bell tower, which was demolished and rebuilt in 1759. Finally, the bell tower was restored by an initiative of Don Arturo Viani.

SAINT ANTONIO OF PADUA IN MASTANICO

This church was started in 1722 with the contribution of the local community and completed in 1736. It is an edifice with only one altar, which is an inlay of marble and hosts an elegant soasa, representing the mother Mary venerated by Saint Antonio of Padua, Saint Filippo Neri and Saint Francesco of Paola.

CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF THE ASSUMPTION

There is no evidence remaining of the original church. There are some remains, possibly Romanic, on the frescoes of the external corner of the actual sacristy and some hollows of the bell tower, which sign the position and the dimension of the ancient edifice.
The church had been narrow and bare until 1519, when the decision was made to enlarge it from the side of the façades. A double level was added but the result was not pleasing to the eye. The new side was dark and, in fact, during a visit in 1566, the Bishop Bollani ordered to open some windows to obtain more light.
In 1773, the first stone of the reconstruction was posed by the Giovanni Maria Gazzaroli, the director of the works. The new edifice was completed in 1816. The exterior is simple and linear, but the interior is wide and sumptuous, typical of the late Baroque style that already announced the advance of the Classicism.
The marble high altar is dominated by a quaint painting portraying Our Lady of the Assumption. The church has four side altars dedicated to Saint Apostles, Madonna of the Rosary, Saint Giuseppe and Saint Rocco. The first pipe organ came in 1865 from Casa Girardini in Brescia. The two confessionals were made by the Bonomi family studio of Avenone.

MADONNA DELLE CORNELLE A LIVRIO

The church is situated in a position dominating the valley. Tradition tells that a group of children , while they were playing, were dazzled by a sudden beam of light which shined on an ancient ash tree. The boys climbed the old tree and discovered a plate of stucco portraying the Blessed Virgin with Jesus the Infant in her arms.
The population hastened to bring the painting to the church of Saint Michele, but the following day, when they entered the church to pray to the miraculous Virgin, they couldn’t find it. The plate was back at the old ash tree. The people attempted many times to place the painting in the parish church, but the plate would be found again at the ash tree. For this reason, the community made the decision to build a sanctuary where the tree had grown. The Madonna, from her part, functioned as protector of the village, in fact, she protected it from the devastations of the French and German armies.
In 1611, a bell tower was joined to the shrine while in 1758, a porch above the road was added. The cupola, which is based on four pairs of columns, sustains a proportioned skylight. In the niche located above the unique altar the miraculous image of the Madonna is located. On the side walls of the edifice the four Evangelists are painted with style.

THE PARISH OF SAINT MICHELE IN LIVRIO

This church is truly graceful and elegant. From the knoll where the church is located, it can be seen by the whole valley as far as the mountains behind the village of Agnosine.
The main altar is valuable for its marble and inlay works. An interesting altar-piece is the one portraying the Madonna in glory along with Saint Michele who are seen to be weighing the souls on the scales. The pieces of the two lateral altars are remarkable. The one on the altar to the right portrays the Madonna delle Cornelle while the one on the left altar represents the Last Supper.
The frescoes covering the walls of the presbytery and part of the nave are pleasing to the eye. On the vault of the presbytery is the exaltation of the name of Jesus with the Evangelists at the four sides. On the left side of the presbytery is seen a portrayal of the wait for the fall of the manna from heaven by Pietro Melzani (07.10.1950). On the right side is the multiplication of the bread, by the same artist.
A well made confessional is a work by the Bonomi family studio of Avenone (1709). The bells of the tower were cast in 1849 by Giovanni Crespi of Crema.

SAINT LORENZO OF AVEARCO

In the village of Provaglio di Sopra, the small church remembers an ancient deanery dependent on the ancient pieve of Provaglio. The exterior is simple, and the interior is dominated by an altar on which an altar-piece portraying Saint Lorenzo and Saint Stefano with Archangel Saint Michele and Madonna with Infant stands out. In addition to the adorned wooden soasa, small reliquaries of golden wood are conserved. They are extremely ancient artifacts made by the local craftsmen. The church was completely restored in 1946, under the guidance of the priest Don Bruno Belli in conjunction with the painter Trainini.

SANCTUARY OF THE MADONNA DEL RONCHINO IN CESANE

The shrine was erected during the period between 1703 and 1712 and dedicated to the introduction of the Blessed Mary to the Temple. It was built at the foot of the hill Dosso del Ronchino, which was an area owned by the Girelli family. As an after thought, a sacristy was added to the church and the bell tower was built in 1725. Two bells were donated by an artisan of Barghe. In those years the extremely venerated image of the Madonna of Vestaro was moved from the homonym sanctuary, where in place of this a crucifix. This small capital was destroyed in 1764.

Bibliografia:
U. VAGLIA, Storia della Valle Sabbia, Brescia, s.d.,