The grandeur of Bellano’s cathedral is indicative of its long and prosperous past, a season that reached its apex between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries when the town held a strategically important position in the lake district. During the 1500s, Bellano was in fact an administrative seat of the Province of the Duchy of Milan, which explains its massive defensive walls, its suitably prestigious cathedral, and the presence of several aristocratic palazzi.
Originally a more modest Romanesque parish church, the cathedral gradually grew in size with a layering of Gothic and Renaissance modifications. Today the overall appearance of the complex is that of a Romanesque-Gothic architecture with a few later additions. The grand facade features the typical black and white marble bands, with four half pilasters corresponding to and supporting the naves inside the church.
Of note are the beautiful maiolica-coated terracotta elements composing the central rose window. This church’s same features can be found in contemporary architectures in other towns of the lake district, such as Piona and Dongo: features that can be attributed to the Maestri Campionesi, the master builders from the Lake Lugano area, stylistically consistent with the production of the Maestri Comacini, the master builders from the Lake Como area, who between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries infused their mastery and aesthetic influence into Romanesque art, leaving their unmistakable mark in many North Italian regions. Inside, the church displays splendid frescos on the central vault, two confessionals in engraved wood and a marble baptistery. The sacristy and bell tower date to the last decades of the sixteenth century.
