Sant'Antonio Abate, Breno, Former church building in Breno, Italy

Sant'Antonio Abate is a church with a pale plastered facade and a tall square bell tower of rough grey-brown stone on its right, topped by a white belfry with a clock face. The facade has a stepped roofline, a large arched window with dark panes, and a small stone-framed arched doorway. Inside, a single hall is divided into three irregular trapezoidal bays with cross vaults, and a red sandstone portal from the 1400s frames the entrance.

Giacomo Marone Ronchi's 1334 testament funded the church, entrusted to the friars of Sant'Antonio di Vienne or the vicinia, with a daily Mass; it was functioning by 1359. A full renovation came in 1514, and from 1529 it held the parish title until the new church of the Salvatore took it in 1653. Deconsecrated in the late 19th century, it served as a barracks and cinema before being declared a national monument in 1910.

The name comes from Saint Anthony Abbot, to whom the church was entrusted in 1334 by Giacomo Marone Ronchi, who assigned it to friars of Saint Anthony of Vienne with the obligation of a daily Mass. In the presbytery, the counterfacade of the chancel carries frescoes by Romanino with Daniele Mori, painted around 1535, illustrating the three young men saved from the furnace in the Book of Daniel.

The church faces Breno's piazza, and the rising street that runs along its left side follows the square's irregular edge, so the facade and the flank sit at an angle to each other. The sandstone portal is set low in the centre of the plastered facade. The building was deconsecrated in the late 19th century and later served as a barracks and a cinema, so check locally before planning a visit to the interior.

The frescoes in the presbytery depict an unusual subject: the three young Israelites Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego condemned to the furnace by Nebuchadnezzar, a theme linked to Saint Anthony Abbot's healing powers. Only the right wall is fully legible; a painted balustrade of noisy onlookers runs above the scene.