Church of St. Pietro a Cagnoletti

Built at the beginning of the 17th century and restored in the 18th century, the beautiful church of Cagnoletti stands on a hill overlooking the old village centre. The little square parvis has a little pillar in one corner, surmounted by a wrought iron cross.

The gabled façade has three windows near the centre, above a very simple portal. It may have been decorated in the early decades of the last century with graffiti which are, unfortunately, very faded today.

The interior holds two side chapels and a semi-circular, brick pulpit in a corner; on the other side, stands an altar with a niche decorated with a frame by the stucco decorator, G. Antonio Travello.

Around the presbytery is a sophisticated, 18th century, engraved marble balustrade. The main altar has a painted and gilded, embossed leather frontal, with an oval depicting St. Peter in the centre. On the high altar stands a carved and engraved, wooden ciborium. It is painted and gilded on two levels wih niches and twisted little columns, topped by a little dome, which houses a statue of the Redeemer (17th/18th century). Above hangs a 17th century canvas depicting Christ giving the keys to St. Peter and the apostles.

From the time it was built, the church had always belonged to the parish of Sondrio. It was served by a priest sent from Sondrio, whose wages were paid by the population of the district under a contract, which established he was not only to celebrate mass, but also to teach the young children the rudiments of the Catholic religion.

The church of San Pietro was incorporated into the parish of Torre di S. Maria in 1985.

RiBiography

  • Mario Gianasso (edited by), Guida turistica della provincia di Sondrio, in “2nd edition, Sondrio, Banca Popolare di Sondrio, 2000, pp. 200-201;
  • Gian Antonio Paravicini (edited by Tarcisio Salice), La pieve di Sondrio, Sondrio, Società Storica Valtellinese, 1969.