Thursday 7 December 2006

San Lorenzo Cathedral


San Lorenzo cathedral is set in Via Cattedrale, Lugano, a very nice panoramic position.From the church one can enjoy a beautiful view of the town, the lake and the sorroundings mountains.
The church origins are very old: some writings already in 875 A.C. speak of a church called "Sancti Laurentii in Luano". It has a facade early renaissance period (1517). Inside the cathedral there are frescoes from the 14th century to the 16th century on the pilasters. On one of them you can find the portrait (executed in 1346) of Bishop Bonifacio da Modena. Madonna delle Grazie Chapel (the most important of the side chapels) was founded in 1494 and was rebuilt in 1774 following the project of the architect Gianbattista Casasopra.
The altar was a project of Andrea Biffi, also architect of Milan's Cathedral. Above the altars you can find the portraits of Saint Lawrence and Saint Rocco in front of Saint Mary, all painted by Giovanni Battista Carloni da Rovio.
The church became cathedral in 1888.
Some restoration took place between 1905 and 1910 with Bishop Alfredo Peri-Morosini.
In 2003 the cathedral was totally restored.
For more infos about this and other churches in Lugano visit:http://www.lugano-tourism.ch/





1 comment:

Daniele Cereghetti said...

Religion in Ticino is very important. From a survey done by "Corriere del Ticino" in collaboration with the Cantonal Statistic Office, they found out that only 7.5% of the population here in Ticino is atheist. The catholic church accounts for 77% of the population.
The biggest increase is that of Islam religion. Islamics were only 269 back in 1970 and were 5747 in year 2000.