Church of the Saints Faustino and Giovita

Fri, 19/10/2012 - 15:26 -- Camilla Itinerario:  Among the treasures of medieval Brescia Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Brescia Tipologia:  Churches Tag:  church Gian Domenico Tiepolo Lattanzio Gambara In 1622 Antonio and Domenico Comino built the present church dedicated to the patron saints of the city on the site of previous church buildings that had been  demolished.  The bell-tower of the old church was kept and maintains the original structure in local limestone up to the first belfry.The richly marble-decorated facade, begun in 1698 and finished by 1711, is considered Bernardo Fedrighini’s masterpiece. The interior, which was constructed between 1622 and 1629, is divided into a nave and two aisles by fourteen monolithic columns and has side chapels and frescos – the ones over the choir in the chancel by the quadraturist Girolamo Mengozzi Colonna and by Gian Domenico Tiepolo are particularly fine; they represent the apparition and martyrdom of  Saints Faustino and Giovita. These frescos reflect the influence of Tiepolo’s father, the great Gian Battista, in their treatment of religious subjects,  in fact he supplied the cartoons for most of the frescos, although they already show the first signs of a  breaking-away from his influence in the their treatment of  the scenes, which are less rhetorical and elevated and closer to real life. Other works of art to be found in the church include: Vantini's L'altare della Croce, (first on the right); the XV century altar piece, L'Adorazione del Bambino ,by Lattanzio Gambara (over the second altar on the right); the high altar with the urn containing the relics of the patron saints by Giovanni and Antonio Carra (1623) and the Processional Banner of the Scuola del Santissimo by Girolamo Romanino, probably dating from 1535. There are other frescos by G.D. Tiepolo in the parsonage, which are more unrestrained and flowing than the ones in the chancel and closer in tone to everyday life. There is also a Renaissance doorway giving onto the XVIII century Abbot's cloister   CHURCH OF THE SAINTS FAUSTINO E GIOVITA Via S. Faustino, 74 Brescia   File:  Audioguide San Faustino Church 1.mp3 Audioguide San Faustino Church 2.mp3 Galleria:  ItalianoDeutschFrançaisEspañol