CHIESA DI SANTA CATERINA

Already mentioned in 1454 on the occasion of the pastoral visit of the bishop Ermolao Barbara, the little church dedicated to the cult of Santa Caterina is located in the village of Gardoncino in Manerba. The structure of the building is certainly Romanesque, although some interventions are attributable to the Renaissance period. The façade is gabled with two small windows which open on the sides opened in the sixteenth century, and a beautiful rose window in brick decorated in the centre of a disc that is formed of oval motifs. The main entrance, which is accessed through a series of steps, is on the other hand made of wood and has some edging in white stone added in the sixteenth century. The interior of the church is vaulted and has a single nave. With regards to the decoration, certainly worth mentioning are some frescoes on the right wall and on the counterfaçade that represent Crucified Christ with the Madonna, San Giovanni and Sant'Antonio Abate. The distinctive trait that distinguishes them is represented by a strong realism perceptible in the faces of all the characters depicted and some movements that characterise them. We have here the expressed will of the artist, who worked on these frescoes, to provoke in the faithful a deep sense of belonging to the biblical event told, the end of which comes thanks to the clever use of colour and the refinement used to make the faces and the clothes of the protagonists of the scene. (credits Arianna Florioli)