Description of the attraction
The Church of Villa Suardi is located in the small town of Trescore Balneario in the province of Bergamo. At the end of the 15th century, a church dedicated to Saints Barbara and Brigitte was built by the order of the cousins Giovanni Battista and Maffeo Suardi in the vast park that surrounded Villa Suardi. In 1524, the interior of the church was painted with frescoes by the famous painter of that time Lorenzo Lotto. Only the frescoes of the apse belong to the brush of another master, who remained unknown. However, the entire pictorial cycle depicts the history of the construction of the church and the history of the family of Giovanni Battista Suardi.
The left wall of the chapel, which was once a private property, is entirely covered with a huge fresco by Lorenzo Lotto. In the center you can see the image of Christ, from whose fingers grape tendrils with busts of saints seem to grow and twist further, among the dancing putti - cupids. In the same place, on the left wall of the Church of Villa Suardi, there is an image of the martyrdom of Saint Barbara, persecuted by her own father. On other walls, the decorations are complemented by patterned panels depicting the miracles of Saints Brigitte, Catherine and Mary Maddalena, and busts of Cybillus and the Magi announcing the coming of the Virgin Mary.
The cycle of frescoes, completed in 1524, and their meaning is a kind of reflection of the then religion against the uncertainties of the Protestant Reformation, whose preachers were German troops who periodically invaded the territory of the Val Cavallina in the 16th century. In particular, Protestants did not accept the idea of the supremacy of the Pope and the cult of the Madonna and saints.
Until the 20th century, the church of Villa Suardi was located along the road connecting Bergamo and the valleys to the north of it. However, the current location of the park, the villa itself and the church is the result of redevelopments of the last century. By order of Count Gianforte Suardi, a bell tower, a small sacristy, buildings made of baked bricks and some other structures were built. There are two graves of members of the Suardi family next to the church. One of them belongs to Lanfranco di Baldino Suardi, who served as a podestà (ruler) of Genoa and died in 1331.
