The oratory of Santa Maria in the locality of Galnago

Not to be missed

The rich apsidal decoration and the facade are 15th-century, while on the side walls and on the impost of the archway there are a number of late 15th- and mid-16th-century panels, the latter to be attributed to the De Rumo family , painters of Polish origin who had lived in Oleggio since at least 1540. It is to one of them that the Madonna del Latte is attributed, one of the representations in this oratory that best depicts the intimacy between Mother and Child.

A bit of history

The road on which the oratory is located was very important: it connected the Novara plain to Lake Maggiore and, further on, to the Alpine transits, then to Switzerland and Germany. The building is of medieval origin; in fact, it is mentioned in the Consignationes of 1347. The semicircular apse and the first section of the nave belong to the early Romanesque structure, and some fragments of frescoes found during restoration also date to the same period. The enlargement in the western part with the extension of the nave dates from 1585, as attested by the date graffitied on the northern wall.

Curiosities

Among the furnishings commissioned for this small church was an elegant carved, painted and gilded wooden sculpture of a Madonna and Child, attributed to a Swiss sculptor and datable to the early 15th century. The Virgin of Oleggio, not coincidentally, bears definite similarities to a group of Gothic-Courtesque sculptures widespread in the transalpine area. Now the wooden statue is kept at the Museum of Religious Art "Fr. A. Mozzetti" in Oleggio.