The Church of Santa Margherita at Monte Marenzo
PhotoView on the original blog Façade of the Church of Santa Margherita
The Place
Leaving the SP639 provincial road, which runs along the Adda to link Cisano Bergamasco with Lecco, and following the signs for Valcava, after a short climb you reach the turning for the municipality of Monte Marenzo.
The spectacular panorama along this climb shows the Adda Valley opening out into the small lakes of Garlate and Olginate, until in the distance you can make out the ring of mountains enclosing the Lecco basin. Among others, the jagged peaks of Monte Resegone, the Corni di Canzo and the slopes of Monte Barro stand out. To the north, at the bottom of the valley, you can see the end of the Lecco arm of Lake Como.
A short detour from the main road through Monte Marenzo, which lies geographically in the upper Valle San Martino, leads to the parish church of San Paolo, where in the right-hand corner of the porch floor stands out the carving of a remarkable triple enclosure, precise and elegant in design.
Returning to the main road through Monte Marenzo and following the signs for the Chiesa di Santa Margherita, you reach the hamlet of Portola, from which an easy dirt path climbs gently to the summit of Monte Santa Margherita.
Here the Oratory of Santa Margherita comes into view. It was restored in 1994 by the Alpini (veterans of the Alpine troops) with the support of the Valle San Martino mountain community. The work undoubtedly saved the architectural complex from total decay, although the result has clearly altered its original medieval style.
The Castrum of Monte Santa Margherita
In the Middle Ages, a number of military settlements gave the territory of Monte Marenzo an important strategic role, controlling the routes from Bergamo to Como via the Roman bridge at Olginate, as well as the territory itself, which was coveted both by the local feudal families and by the Cluniac monastery of San Giacomo di Pontida.
Giovanni Maironi da Ponte, who reorganised the boundary records of the Bergamo area in 1795 on the orders of the Senate, as chancellor of the boundary office, reported having noticed on Monte Santa Margherita "... some vestiges of small fortresses", an important historical testimony to the presence of a castle on the summit of the hill (625 metres above sea level), on the border between the municipalities of Monte Marenzo and Torre de' Busi.
Analysis of aerial photographs taken in 1995 confirmed the artificial nature of the summit of Monte Santa Margherita. Subsequent archaeological excavations between 1998 and 2000 uncovered the circuit wall (120 metres long) of a "castle" covering about 950 square metres. In particular, archaeological analysis of the excavated area revealed a series of walls belonging to different phases in the life of the "castle": a central tower, a curtain building south-east of the tower and another room of uncertain function further south.
Hearths, bones, some fragments of soapstone, pieces of glass goblets, an iron knife blade, nails and two silver coins of the Holy Roman Empire, minted in Milan in the second half of the 12th century, were found on site, albeit badly deteriorated.
Radiocarbon analysis was also carried out on a sample taken from the oldest layer of the building, giving a date between 1220 and 1310 and confirming the chronological limits of the documentary sources.
The excavation thus confirmed the strategic importance of the site, uncovering a "castle" of early medieval foundation, probably to be identified with the Castrum de Cantagudo recorded in medieval documents from the first half of the 12th century to the mid-15th century.
PhotoView on the original blog
Remains of an "altar" in the Castrum
The legend of Saint Margaret
According to the Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine:
"Saint Margaret was born in Antioch, where her father Theodosius was patriarch of the gentiles. She had a Christian nurse, so that when she grew up she wished to be baptised, heedless of her father's anger.
One day, when she was 15, Margaret was in a meadow with other girls, tending her nurse's sheep. The prefect Olybrius, passing by, saw the beautiful girl and immediately fell in love with her. He called his servants and said to them: 'Go and seize that girl; if she is of noble birth she shall be my wife, otherwise she shall be my concubine!'
So Margaret was brought before the prefect, who asked her about her family, her name and her religion. The girl replied that she was noble, a Christian, and that her name was Margaret. The prefect said: 'Two things suit you wonderfully: your noble birth and your name, which likens you to a pearl of rare beauty; but it does not become you to worship a crucified God.' And the girl said: 'How do you know that Christ was crucified?' And Olybrius: 'From the Christian books.' And the girl: 'If you have read the account of Christ's death and of his glory, it is shameful that you believe the first and not the second!' Then Margaret declared that Christ had willingly submitted to the ultimate torment for the redemption of mankind and had risen to eternal life. The angry prefect ordered her to be shut up in prison. The next day Olybrius had Margaret brought before him and said to her: 'Foolish girl, have pity on your beauty, worship our gods and it will go well with you!' And she replied: 'I worship him who makes the earth and the sea and all creatures tremble.' And the prefect: 'If you do not obey me, I will have your body torn apart.' And Margaret: 'Christ offered himself as a victim for me, and I wish to die for him!' Then the prefect ordered her to be hung on the rack, where she was cruelly beaten and torn with iron combs until her bones were laid bare, while blood flowed abundantly from her holy body as from a most pure spring.
The bystanders wept and said: 'O Margaret, we grieve for you, seeing your body reduced to such a state. Oh, what beauty you have lost through your unbelief! Do not now lose your life as well!' Margaret answered them: 'Evil counsellors, go away, for the torment of the flesh is the pledge of eternal salvation!' Then she said to the prefect: 'Shameless dog and cruel lion, you have all power over my body, but my soul escapes you!' Meanwhile the prefect covered his face with his cloak, unable to bear so much bloodshed; finally he ordered her to be taken down from the rack and shut in prison, where at once a wondrous light shone forth. There Margaret prayed to God to let her see with her own eyes the enemy she was fighting, and behold, a huge and fierce dragon appeared, which vanished as soon as the girl made the sign of the cross. Other authors say that the dragon swallowed Margaret in one gulp, but that the girl made the sign of the cross in the animal's belly and at once emerged unharmed. But this story is apocryphal, and we consider it false.
Then the devil, in order to deceive her, took on the appearance of a man. At this sight the girl began to pray, but the man came up to her, took her hand and said: 'Let what you have done suffice; stop tormenting me now.' Margaret then seized him by the head, threw him to the ground, set her right foot on his accursed neck and said: 'Proud demon, lie now beneath a woman's feet!' And the demon cried: 'O blessed Margaret, I am vanquished! Had I been vanquished by a man I would not have felt so much shame as I feel now, here under the feet of a tender girl, all the more so since your father and mother are my friends!' Then Margaret forced the demon to say why he had come, and he replied that he had come to persuade her to obey the prefect. She also forced him to reveal why he tormented Christians so much; the devil replied that he had a natural hatred of virtuous people and envied them the happiness he had lost. He added that Solomon had shut up a great multitude of demons in a jar, but that after his death some men, seeing tongues of fire coming out of the jar and believing it contained a treasure, broke it, and the devils went free through the air. When the devil had spoken, the virgin lifted her foot and said: 'Flee, wretch!' and at once the demon vanished. And so the girl felt sure of defeating the prefect, the devil's servant, since she had defeated his master.
The next day she was brought before the judge and again refused to sacrifice to the gods. Then he ordered her whole body to be burned with flaming torches, while those present marvelled greatly that a tender girl could endure such torments. Then the prefect ordered Margaret to be plunged into a tub full of water, to increase her pain through the variety of torments; but the whole earth shook, the virgin came out of the tub safe and sound, and 5,000 men believed in Christ, facing the ultimate torment in his holy name.
Then the prefect, fearing further conversions, ordered Margaret to be beheaded. The holy girl began to pray, for herself, for her persecutors and for all those who would invoke her name.
She also asked God to save every woman who, in the pains of childbirth, should ask for her help. And behold, a voice from heaven assured the girl that all her wishes had been granted. Margaret turned to her executioner and said: 'Brother, raise your sword and strike!' With a single blow the executioner severed the holy head from the body. Thus Margaret received the crown of martyrdom on the thirteenth day before the calends of August or, according to other authors, on the same day of July."
The fresco cycle of the Church of Santa Margherita
An important decorative scheme from the late medieval period survives in the church of Santa Margherita, which stands on a height 615 metres above sea level near the border between the municipalities of Torre de' Busi and Monte Marenzo. Here, at Portola, an evocative dirt track leads to the church and to the archaeological area of an important "Castrum". The place of worship has a single-hall plan with a semicircular apse, probably of late medieval origin. Inside are fragmentary frescoes dating from the late 14th and early 15th centuries, which once entirely covered the walls of the apse, the nave and the inner façade. Iconographically they fall into three main themes: episodes from the life of Saint Margaret of Antioch on the south wall and the inner façade; the Majestas Domini in the apse conch, completed by other subjects in the half-drum, with the Annunciation on the triumphal arch; and devotional frescoes on the north wall.
The best-preserved cycle, depicting Episodes from the Life of Saint Margaret of Antioch, consisted, before an illegal removal in 1974, of fifteen scenes in panels, thirteen arranged in two registers on the side wall and the rest on the inner façade.
The scenes are read from left to right, starting from the upper register of the side wall and ending with the lower panel of the inner façade.
The frescoes tell the story of Saint Margaret who, having lost her mother, was entrusted to the care of a Christian nurse at the time of the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian. Olybrius, governor of Antioch, fell in love with her, decided to marry her and tried to win her back to the pagan faith by subjecting her to repeated tortures, in vain; indeed, these led many pagans, impressed by the woman's supernatural strength, to convert to Christianity. They too were executed, and in the end the saint was beheaded.
This story is well illustrated here, though mutilated by the illegal removal of the first two episodes: the conversion of Saint Margaret and the governor Olybrius falling for Saint Margaret. The surviving scenes, though incomplete, show: the meeting of Olybrius and Saint Margaret, Olybrius summoning Saint Margaret, Olybrius asking Saint Margaret for a public gesture of conversion to paganism, the first torture of Saint Margaret and Saint Margaret put in prison.
The story continues in the lower register of the same wall with the following scenes: Saint Margaret subduing with the cross the devil, who has appeared in the form of a dragon (the image of the dragon has been completely erased by the custom of the faithful of scratching it with their fingernails), Saint Margaret led before Olybrius, the torture with burning torches, the torture of immersion in the icy tub and the sudden conversion of the pagans, the beheading of the converted pagans and Saint Margaret awaiting beheading.
On the inner façade, where the frescoes were damaged by the opening of two square windows, a few fragments allow us to recognise, in the upper register, Saint Margaret in prison and, in the lower register, the beheading of the saint.
Stylistically, these frescoes stand out for their elegant handling and delicate application of colour, played on gradual transitions of light and tone, which define the volumes in a constant search for solid plastic substance, never overwhelmed by calligraphic refinement. This cycle of high quality belongs to the tradition that, in the Bergamo area between the 14th and 15th centuries, was developing new forms of expression based on soft blends of colour. Laura Paola D'Ambrosio has attributed it to an anonymous painter known as the "Master of the Stories of Saint Margaret", perhaps to be identified with Pacino da Nova. The same artist was probably responsible for the apse murals showing the Majestas Domini and the Evangelists (Saint John and Saint Mark, on the left, are sketched in sinopia) in the half-dome, and for a series of framed frescoes in the band of the half-drum.
The frescoes of the half-dome, interspersed with three single-light windows, depict, from left to right: Saint Catherine of Alexandria, a Doctor of the Church, the Trinity, an unidentified saint, the meeting of Mary with Jesus on the road to Calvary and the Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. In these frescoes and in the damaged Angel of the Annunciation on the left spandrel of the triumphal arch we find the same search for plastic effects, the same refinement of colour and that sense of immediacy which, in the stories of Saint Margaret of Antioch too, tempers the dramatic potential of the narrative.
Two frescoes originally on the left wall of the nave, known from photographs, have also been attributed to the "Master of Saint Margaret": the Vir dolorum, removed and stolen, which was above the side entrance, and the nearby Nursing Madonna, of which only a trace remains visible.
On the same wall is a series of panels framed by a border slightly different from that of the other walls, with a small arched frieze that continues onto the inner façade, where a scene no longer identifiable survives. From the left, they depict: a damaged saint, the Nursing Madonna already mentioned, followed by the lost Vir dolorum above the side door, Saint Christopher, Saint Anthony Abbot, a figure with a scroll shown pointing towards the triumphal arch, and a saint holding an open book. These last two figures can be identified from the inscriptions on the scroll and on the book respectively. The scroll reads "Ego vox clamantis in deserto parat(e) viam domini" (Isaiah 40:3), the words with which the prophet Isaiah foretold the mission of Saint John the Baptist. The other figure's book bears the inscription "[nolumus autem vos ignorare fratres de dormientibus ut non contristemini sicut et ceteri qui spem non habent]", which refers to Saint Paul's preaching (1 Thessalonians 4:13) on the imminent coming of Christ.
The deterioration of these frescoes makes attribution difficult; however, it is possible that the same workshop active in the apse and on the right wall in the early 1400s was partly at work here too, judging also by a comparison between the first saint on the left wall and the Christ meeting Mary on the road to Calvary in the apse, which share the same way of outlining the eyes with a marked contour line and the same delicate, almost brush-tip rendering of eyebrows, beard and hair. The series of figures on the right of the side wall, on the other hand, seems to show a more mature sense of space and volume, suggesting a slightly later date, though not far from the beginning of the 15th century.
Among the peculiarities of this small oratory on the summit of Monte Santa Margherita, which overlooks another remarkable place of worship, the Church of San Michele at Torre de' Busi, is its unusual astronomical orientation, which does not follow the orientation towards the equinoctial sun approved by the Catholic Church. A recent study by Prof. Gaspani of the Brera Astronomical Observatory found the same peculiarity in the Church of San Michele at Torre de' Busi itself and in the churches of Santa Maria del Lavello at Calolziocorte, San Lorenzo Vecchio at Rossino and Santa Brigida d'Irlanda at Lorentino (see the video lecture from www.duepassinelmistero.com). To date no archaeological excavations have been carried out on the church's foundation site that could establish whether an earlier structure existed.
Also worth noting is the marked change in acoustic characteristics perceived when passing from the single hall into the semicircular apse, which would deserve an archaeoacoustic analysis. For this reason, as well as for its isolated location on the summit of Monte Santa Margherita, the oratory could have been a suitable place for an eremitic spiritual retreat in which to practise invocation techniques using chant or litanic invocation, as in hesychasm.
Bibliography
- Quattro cappelle dedicate a Santa Margherita in provincia di Lecco: strutture castrensi e cicli pittorici tra XII e XV secolo. Cristina Fedeli. Degree thesis, University of Pavia, academic year 2002/2003.
- La Valle dei Castelli. Ecomuseo di San Martino. Comunità Montana Lario Orientale-Valle San Martino. Fabio Bonaiti. November 2010.
- Memorie spettanti alla storia, al governo ed alla descrizione della città e della campagna di Milano ne' secoli bassi, raccolte ed esaminate dal conte Giorgio Giulini. G.B. Bianchi 1760.
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🇮🇹 Leggi questo articolo in italiano →Originally published in Italian on the Montezaga blog (montezaga.wordpress.com) →