S.Maria delle Grazie: Description

The church and the augustan convent were founded in 1467 on the same spot where the presence of an early-medieval church dedicated to Our Saviour was recorded. It was the property of the friers up to 1772. The convent was then sold to private owners. It has recently been bought by the local administration and restored.

It stands around a cloister with a portico of ogival arches resting on columns, three sides in stone and one in cotto. There are frescos depicting the "Stories of the lives of Jesus and the Augustan Saints", a work of Domenico da Lugano and perhaps of Bernardo De Donati. The church on the other hand has a sole nave and is characterized by five large pointed arches which descend towards the ground creating lateral divisions and the ceiling is of larch wood.

Three apses descend and close at the vast and radiant open space inside. The central apses has the shape of a crown dome. The front and side entrances are portals made from the marble of Musso. The lunette of the front portal is decorated with a 1500s fresco depicting "The Holy Virgin between Saint Augustin and St. Nicholas of Tolentino" whilst the sub-arches and the facades of the transversal spandrel walls are frescoed with busts of the "Prophets".

Inside, the church is richly frescoed with impressive painting of a good 13th-14th century lombard school. None of the paintings are signed but in some one can recognize the style of Sigismondo De Magistris, painter of the Como region. Noteworthy are the 16th century stucco decorations of the vault and walls.