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Dongo

San Gottardo, Dongo

The seventeenth-century octagonal church on a lonely knoll by the Albano, with its nineteenth-century four-column portico, the Glory of San Gottardo painted in 1628 by Gian Giacomo Barbello and a fifteenth-century fresco lifted from the earlier chapel.

Visit duration
10–20 min
Booking
Not required
Area
Upper Lake
The four-column portico in front of the church and the bell tower, among trees, under a pale sky.LauraPiatti · CC BY-SA 4.0
  • LauraPiatti · CC BY-SA 4.0

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The four-column portico in front of the church and the bell tower, among trees, under a pale sky.

LauraPiatti · CC BY-SA 4.0

Why go

The church of San Gottardo stands on its own on a knoll above Dongo, near the Albano river.

It was built in the seventeenth century, out of devotion to the saint, where a small chapel dedicated to him stood. It has an octagonal plan with two side chapels, and in front a four-column portico from the first half of the nineteenth century. In 1902 the forecourt was widened for the ever more numerous faithful, and in 1906 the access road was built. Above the high altar is the canvas of the Glory of San Gottardo, painted in 1628 by Gian Giacomo Barbello. There are also the saint's statue in polychrome wood and a fresco of the Virgin and Child with San Gottardo beside them, probably fifteenth-century, lifted from the earlier oratory. The church was restored in 1938, and in 1959 the roof was redone with the help of the villagers.

  • The columned portico on the lonely knoll above the Albano.
  • The 1628 Glory of San Gottardo above the altar.

Highlights

  • The octagonal plan with two chapels
  • Gian Giacomo Barbello's canvas of 1628
  • The fifteenth-century Virgin and Child, lifted from the earlier chapel

Getting there

  • It stands above Dongo, near the Albano river, at the end of the access road built in 1906.

On the map

Explore the lake
Gravedona ed UnitiDongoMussoSan Gottardo, Dongo

© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL

Nearby: places, experiences, services

Distances as the crow flies.

Sources and credits

Sources and credits