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Bellagio

Basilica of San Giacomo

Visit duration
20–40 min
Booking
Not required
Area
Centro Lago
The stone flank of the basilica of San Giacomo at Bellagio, with its bell tower.Mike Peel · CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Mike Peel · CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Pierre André · CC BY-SA 4.0

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The stone flank of the basilica of San Giacomo at Bellagio, with its bell tower.

Mike Peel · CC BY-SA 4.0

Why go

The basilica of San Giacomo, at the top of the village of Bellagio, was built in blocks of Moltrasio stone between the late eleventh and the early twelfth century.

Inside, columns and piers separate the nave from two side aisles; three flights of steps climb to the raised chancel, which ends in three apses. In the seventeenth century the church was remodelled in Baroque style. In the early twentieth century a restoration removed the vaults and the stucco, reopened the windows and rebuilt the lost parts in Romanesque style. The columns of the nave and the carvings of the ambo, with the symbols of the Evangelists, survive from the medieval church. The apse mosaics date from 1914: the central one copies the martyrdom of St James that Mantegna painted in Padua. A glass case holds a painted wooden Dead Christ, found in the lake off the village around 1629.

  • The columns of the nave and the carvings of the ambo, left from the Romanesque church.
  • Entry is free, and the pier is five minutes away.

Highlights

  • The carved capitals
  • The archaic stone crucifix

Getting there

  • Five minutes uphill on foot from the Bellagio pier.
The bell tower with its small green dome above the stone east end with its cross and the slab-roofed apse, beside a palm tree under a blue sky.Tomcorengia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Accessibility

  • There is one step at the façade entrance and two low steps at the one on the right side; seven steps lead up to the high altar and one to the side chapels. On the cobbled square alongside there are two parking spaces for disabled badge holders.

Practical information

Telephone

+39 031 950442

This is the number of Bellagio's pastoral community. Mass times change from week to week.

Facilities

  • Car park 131 m away · free
  • Public toilets 147 m away · accessible

Distances from the point on the map.

Webcams

Updated 22 October 2026

On the map

Explore the lake
BellagioBasilica of San Giacomo

© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL

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Sources and credits

Sources and credits