Lendinara Itinerary
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LENDINARA Itinerary St. Biagio’s Church Piazza Risorgimento St. Sofia’s Church Bell Tower St. Giuseppe’s Church Piazza Alberto Mario Madonna del Pilastrello’s Sanctuary Welcome to Lendinara. Lendinara is an Italian small town located in Veneto, it has got 12. 148 inhabitants, and it is an important historical and cultural centre. We know that Lendinara was a significant Roman centre , thanks to some archaeological finds, such as coins, road constructions, and tombstones. The first important historical document dates back to 870, when Umberto Cattaneo from Verona became liege of Lendinara. His lordship lasted for four centuries. Since the 11th century Lendinara had a famous castle, surrounded by fortifications, and including the biggest part of the town. As you can see, Lendinara is crossed by the river Adigetto, which divides the town into two parts, and which makes it a very fertile territory. There is another river, called Adige, which marks the boundary with the district of Padova. Thanks to these two rivers, in the Middle Ages, the communications were active and frequent. In 1246 Lendinara was destroyed by Ezzelino da Romano because of its friendship with the San Bonifacio family. After that, Lendinara was yielded to the Estensis. In the 5th century it became a Venetian possession and enjoyed a prosperous period: the Canozio’s school was founded. In the following three centuries it had a great development from the industrial and economical perspective (1600s), from an architectural point of view (1700s), and also in literature (1700s). In 19th century Lendinara became a French territory, and then Austrian. In 1866 Veneto became part of the Kingdom of Italy: unfortunately there was an unlucky and hard economical situation, which forced people to emigrate to Brazil. At the beginning of 1900s the town had an industrial growth with the construction of a sugar factory, a jute factory and a food industry. At present industry concentrates mainly on furniture, clothing and footwear. One of the buildings that were not part of the castle was St. Biagio’s church. And we will start right from here talking about the most important buildings and places of interest in this beautiful town. St. Biagio’s church As you can see, the frontage is characterised by four pronaos’ columns that support the gable, decorated at the top by statues. Two lateral small-sized wings are delimited by large closed arches. From one of these wings, the seventeenth-century bell tower rises up. The interior of the building, divided into a nave and two aisles, is modulated by big columns which separate the nave from the aisles and the choir. Since the thirteenth century, we know that in Lendinara there was an oratory (dedicated to St. Biagio), and annexed to it, there was a monastery, abandoned only in the fifteenth century by the Umiliati. In 1473 the church and the monastery passed to the “Gerolimini” friars (known as “Fiesolani”). “Zoccolanti” Franciscans also ruled the church and the monastery until 1769. The condition of the church was so bad that it needed a radical restoration, guided by the talented lendinarese architect Giacomo Baccari, in 1803. Works started in the same year and went on, until 1813, then they restarted in 1829 with the collaboration of Jappelli. The new church was consecrated in 1884. We can find some very interesting works of art, such as, on the left, the altar piece representing Crucified Christ and the Saints Marco and Carlo Borromeo (maybe by the artist Malombra); the picture by Gregorio Lazzarini, in the next altar, which represents the exaltation of the Eucharist with some Francescan Saints (1725). On the third left altar we can find the altarpiece with St. Antonio from Padua and angels, painted by A. M. Nardi in 1942. Going on along the ambulatory, first we find a little picture of St. Bellino, the piece with the Immaculate Conception venerated by the Saints Biagio and Francesco, painted by Lazzarini (1725) and a sixteenth-century picture from some Venetian schools representing the Holy Family, St. Giovannino, St. Elisabetta and some donors. On the 4th altar, on the right, the “Madonna della Cintura” and nine Saints are exposed, a work of art painted by Antonio Zanchi and received from the Church of Cappuccini (in Este) in the XIX century. On the 3rd altar we can admire the massy construction, the radiant chromia and the peculiarity of the landscape in “Visitazione” (1525). In this picture classical elements merge with the psychological naturalism of its characters. The altarpiece of the 2nd altar with St. Nicholas, St. Francis of Assisi, abbot St. Anthony and apostle St. Andrew created by the late Mannerist Andrea Vicentino (1585). On the 1st altar a nineteenth-century painting representing St. Margaret from Cortona is set. We can mention some other works of art, such as wooden statues by artists from Lendinara: a canopy over the main altar (Giuseppe Fava, known as “il Saccadei”), the rood by Ponzilacqua and the nineteenth-century choir by Luigi Voltolini. Piazza Risorgimento Let us go out of St. Biagio, and walk straight on until we cross the bridge and we arrive at Piazza Risorgimento, the main square of the town. Piazza Risorgimento is very important because it is the cultural and political centre. There we can find some remarkable buildings and structures from different ages. Palazzo Pretorio stands on the square with its impressive build: it dates back to the late 14th century, and it is one of the most ancient monuments in Polesine. It was conceived as a castle. At first it was under the power of the Estensis, and later of the Venetians. It is composed of tower Maistra (25 metres high) and of a lower building with battlements and a large portal. It was used as a prison and now it is a location in which some lovers set up an exhibition of cribs, which attracts hundreds of people. Turning on the left, we can see Palazzo Comunale. Erected by the Estensis, it is the town hall. The façade, made of bricks, is divided into two levels: the inferior one is characterized by an arched portico supported by four rectangular windows with a Madonna with the Child’s statue at the centre, which took up the image of the Pilastrello’s Virgin (1618). We can visit the inside of the Town Hall to approach the “Stanza Canoziana”, one of the most significant works of art in Lendinara: the wooden and carved grating and the fretwork by brothers Lorenzo and Cristoforo Canozi, from Lendinara, extraordinary interpreters of Renaissance with beautiful wooden inlays preserved in Modena, Parma and Padua. In the same room there are other interesting things: a topographic map of city made in 1690 by the expert Gaspare Mazzante, and some Risorgimento’s relics belonged to Alberto Mario (1825 – 1883) and his wife Jessie White (1832 – 1906). On the other side of the square, we can find the Clock Tower. In ancient times this tower was one of the entrances to the town. It was transformed into a bell tower in the 17th century. It is characterized by a quadrangular structure, divided into 4 levels, and provided with battlements. The door is made with a Gothic arch. St. Sofia’s church Walking across the square, going straight on via Varliero, and turning right, in the distance we can see St. Sofia’s church, a cathedral with ancient origins. It was built on the ruins of a pagan temple in 1070 as an oratory of the Cattaneo family. In 1674, it was in strong degradation. In 1760 the Molin – Minio family, its new owners, gave the permission to enlarge and to restore the church according to the project of Angelo Santini, an architect from Ferrara. While taxing repeatedly the citizens, works lasted for years, until Domenico Scipioni became archpriest, and involved Francesco Antonio Baccari in the enterprise. St. Sofia’s church is the cathedral of Lendinara. The inside is divided into one nave and two aisles and at the end of which there is a large apse, which is surmounted by a dome. The frescos are very remarkable, and they are painted by Giorgio Anselmi. The first altar holds a painting by Casanova, representing St. Anthony of Padua (1942). In the second altar there is a painting of the 18th century with the Virgin of the Rosary and Saints by the painter G. B. Albrizzi from Lendinara, at first placed on the major altar of St. Joseph’s church. The painting with the “Sacred Heart of Jesus” was made in 20th century, painted by B. Biagetti and placed in the third altar on the left. In a little space situated between the third and the fourth altar of the same nave, where a protected area was obtained for the exposition of the three most important works conserved in the church, including the painting by Domenico Mancini from Treviso – dated and signed 1511- representing the Madonna on the throne with the Child and a musician angel. Another remarkable painting conserved in the little space is the “Madonna with the Child sitting on the throne between the martyr St. Laurence and St. Anthony of Padua” painted by Francesco Bissolo at the beginning of the XVI century, but greatly remodelled in the 17th century; in front of it there is an “Ecce Homo” by Fetti (1615). Of remarkable interest are some paintings conserved in the first three altars on the right. On the first altar, there is a Madonna in Glory with the Child and the Purgatory’s souls (around 1700) one of the last works by the estense painter Zanchi. On the second altar the “Descent of the Holy Spirit” (around 1795) is placed, attributed to Domenico Maggiotto, one of the major painters of Piazzetta’s school.