Lago d’Iseo—Il Monastero di San Pietro in Lamosa (part 4 of 4)

The Romanesque style church, from the back

Today, April 5, is the day after Easter, which in Italy is a holiday all of its own–Pasquetta. On Pasquetta it’s traditional to go on a picnic or grill outdoors with friends. Today in Torino we have beautiful weather, but alas, we are in lockdown again. All the more reason to remember good times with friends! Read on…

As our group drove out of town on the last day of our vacation to Lago d’Iseo, we stopped to visit the monastery of San Pietro in Lamosa. Originally an 11th century offshoot of the famous Cluny monastery in France, it passed to the Canons Regular of San Salvatore of Brescia from 1535-1783, and then was privately owned for many years. In 1983 it was given to the local parish, and in recent years the property surrounding the church itself has been used for concerts and other cultural events.

The particularly interesting thing about this church artistically is that since it was never fully remodeled, it’s like a museum of ecclesiastical fresco styles dating from the 12th to the 16th centuries. I particularly liked the fact that since the series of the twelves disciples in the apse was never finished, the six on the left are in full color, but the six on the right are still in the form of (very fresh-looking) sepia underdrawings that reveal the painting process. In fact, one reason I love frescoes so much is that since the paint dries quickly into the plaster, the line work is usually confident and spontaneous-looking, as it is in this sepia underdrawing. The last chapel, near the front door on the left side, is a combination of Renaissance and Baroque styles. You can watch a video with more ample views of the entire complex here.

The whole complex is charming and set on the edge of a natural peat bog with walking paths and wooden bridges. This little stop was a perfect end to our trip. We were all sad to go home, but we were pleased with ourselves for having temporarily escaped the pandemic, and on a very reasonable budget at that.

I hope you enjoyed a bit of vicarious vacationing in Italy! We’re going to have to get a good bit more vaccination done to travel in Europe once again, but hopefully one day we will!