The church of San Rocco is located behind the apse of the Prepositural church, in a raised position, near the small Roman bridge over the famous Orrido.
Its construction dates back to 1484 as reported by the engraving on the entrance’s stone architrave, while consecration took place in 1502. In 1587 it became the seat of the Confraternita dei Disciplini o Disciplinati: a group of laymen dedicated to prayer and penance, which was then disbanded in 1786 at the behest of the Austrian government. The hall of said confraternity was on the upper floor, above the current porch, but nothing survives of it except in some prints showing the former appearance of the church front.
In 1968 it underwent major restoration work and today the church is dedicated to the fallen of all wars and is an unusual example of a religious and at the same time civil temple.
The dedication to Saints Rocco and Sebastian, however, is due to the plague that struck the area and the presence of the Sentiero del Viandante (Wayfarer’s Path) which passes right over the Roman bridge and under the temple’s portico. Churches and chapels dedicated to these saints, in fact, are frequently found along the ancient route.
The interior is simple and consists of a single nave with a slightly raised apse. Worthy of note is the finely worked beam that supports the large triumphal Cross in front of the presbytery, as well as the wooden altar that houses the statues of the Risen Christ and Saints Rocco and Sebastian, all dating back to the seventeenth century; the antependium in San Rocco is from the eighteenth-century. The altarpiece depicting the Madonna and Child with Saints, to whom the church is dedicated, and the fresco in the apse, mentioned in the pastoral visit of 1611, have been lost.
Although more recent, the two large canvases placed at the sides of the altar, by the Bellano painter Giancarlo Vitali, deserve great attention.
