Skip to content

Oliveto Lario

Madonna del Moletto Sanctuary, Oliveto Lario

The two-storey seventeenth-century sanctuary on a rock above the lake, at the border with Bellagio: the monk Roberto Rusca founded it in 1606, and two painters from Como frescoed its upper room with the life of the Virgin.

Visit duration
15–40 min
Booking
Not required
Area
The Triangle
Illustration: a lakeshore, until a photograph of the Madonna del Moletto sanctuary is available.Illustration

Why go

Madonna del Moletto is an early seventeenth-century sanctuary on rock above the lake, near Limonta.

Dedicated to the Annunciation, it was commissioned by the Cistercian monk Roberto Rusca and consists of two chapels, one above the other. The lower church retains decorations with Marian symbols and a fresco of the Rest on the Flight into Egypt. The upper church holds seventeenth-century frescoes by the Recchi depicting episodes from the lives of Mary and Jesus. The altar shows the Annunciation; the vaults depict the Assumption and the Coronation of the Virgin. Saint Ambrose on horseback appears on the entrance wall.

  • A two-storey sanctuary on a rock above the lake, seen from the water too, between Lecco and Bellagio.
  • The seventeenth-century frescoes of the upper room, with an Annunciation full of details of home life.

Highlights

  • The upper room, frescoed in the 1640s
  • Saint Ambrose on horseback on the entrance wall
  • The sun, moon and stars in the room below

Getting there

  • It lies on the provincial road between Limonta and Bellagio, at the far end of the Oliveto Lario comune: the sanctuary is signposted, and from a small car park a footpath leads down to the church.

On the map

Explore the lake
Oliveto LarioMadonna del Moletto Sanctuary, Oliveto Lario

© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL

What's on nearby

Events within a few kilometres, on now or coming up.

See all

Nearby: places, experiences, services

Distances as the crow flies.

Sources and credits

Sources and credits