SHARRYLAND
The Romanesque Church of St. Alexander
A Romanesque jewel perched on the hillside
Where is
What it is and where it is
A lonelystone church perched on a green hill, a soaring bell tower and way of the cross chapels. This is what one notices on the provincial road that leads through Vallassina to Ghisallo. The town not far away is Lasnigo, and though it may not seem so at first glance, this is its parish church: Sant'Alessandro, a small Romanesque jewel that has been declared a National Monument because of its beauty.
Why it is special
Making it visible even from afar is the bell tower, which soars tall and slender positioned flush with the facade. It is made of stone, like most of the religious buildings in the area dating from the Romanesque period, and has a square plan. It is divided into five orders of which the first opens in simple slits, while in those above we have elegant single and double l ancet windows profiled and of the crutch capital, which give an additional upward thrust to the whole structure.
Not to be missed
The beauty of this place is not only found outside. Inside, ogival arches divide the nave into 3 bays. The first two are almost exclusively whitewashed, which allows the eyes to run free to the last bay dominated by a triumphal arch and a square apse entirely frescoed. Although traceable to the Romanesque style, the frescoes are luminous: dynamic figures and landscapes illuminated perhaps by those same radiant suns that adorn the vault of the apse. Adding further luminosity is the magnificent wooden ceiling of the entire nave--a real jewel!
A bit of history
The land on which the church stands holds burials from pre-Christian times, identifying that place as the cemetery of the people who inhabited the village of Nasnigo, now Lasnigo. The original building dates from before the 12th century, was smaller in size than today's and had a semicircular apse. It would have been built away from the village so that it would not have been subject to the frequent fires and devastation by the Barbarians. Next to the church was the parish house, to this day no longer visible. The sacristy and the last enlargement building works are dated 1732.
Curiosities
St. Charles visited the area in 1570. It was he who ordered the building of a new pastoral church and the abandonment of St. Alexander's because it was cramped and far from the village. A land was bought, after 13 years, with ecclesiastical contribution, where the old castle of Alessandro Tavecchio stood. The foundation stone, however, was laid only in 1630, and the new church was completed in 1680. But the delays were not over: although it was opened for worship in '41, it would take another thirty-nine years to complete the work in '80!
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