At the highest, furthest point of the town, disconnected from the everyday bustle, was a place for prayer and meditation: the church of San Nicolao once connected to the small Convent of the Humiliati, an order that became widespread in Piedmont and Lombardy and that was suppressed in 1571. The church “was located where the old road to Dervio (home to one of the most important Houses of the Humiliati of the region) and to the High Lake met the narrow town roads: in that spot, to the right of the church, was one of the main gates to Bellano, while on the left there was the entrance to the sacristy and the small Convent of the Humiliati, that today are no longer there.
The importance of the church’s proximity to the so-called ‘wayfarer’s trail’ is attested by the church being dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Flüe, as many other churches in the Alpine area built along wayfarers and pilgrims’ routes”. San Nicolao, that has been long been deconsecrated, is a one-nave structure with a trapezoid plan, featuring a layering of integrations and alterations to the original architecture. However, many parts, such as the cross vaulted brick ceiling of the presbytery, are original and the series of fine frescoes by an accomplished artist with “an attentive and refined personality, already permeated with International Gothic taste”. Many scholars believe the painter in question might be the Master of Bellano, who was active between the end of the fourteenth century and the beginning of the fifteenth, as documented by his many frescoes in the Lake area.
The permanent collection of works by Danilo Vitali
Danilo Vitali, born in Bellano in 1935, is a self-taught artist who has masterfully reinterpreted the ancient technique of embossing on copper. San Nicolao houses the collection of works created from 1970 to 2020, thanks to a generous donation to the municipality: an invaluable heritage for the Bellano community and for visitors who, by visiting “the suspended Aquarium”, can immerse themselves in his creative universe
