ARTOGNE

Church of S. Rocco

The architectural structure, the simplicity of the lines, the nave with the lowered barrel vault are from the late seventeenth century, but certainly its origins are older.
The façade is divided into three parts by modest white pilasters and in the center the arched portal in Sarnico stone emerges, adorned with plant motifs. The two painted niches of the side compartments welcome the Saints Cornelio and Cipriano, made on the occasion of the 1978 restoration.
The ceiling of the single nave is embellished with 19th century frescoes depicting San Rocco in prison, San Rocco among the plague victims and San Rocco in glory in the presbytery. The presbytery, narrower than the nave, is square in shape with a ribbed vault and is separated from it by a triumphal arch supported by paired pilasters.
Tradition has it that the church dedicated to San Rocco, thaumaturge and protector of the plague victims, welcomed the inhabitants of the valley floor to give them refuge and refreshment as the spread of the plague spread. Only in the mid-19th century did it become independent from the parish church thanks to the presence of a stable chaplain, a baptismal font and a cemetery.
The adjoining house of the chaplain was transformed into a holiday home with the restoration in 1978.
The feast of the Saint is on August 16, the date on which the people of Artogne and the surrounding towns gather for the traditional “merenda de San Roc”.