San Bartolomeo, Parish church in Como, Italy

San Bartolomeo is a parish church in Como featuring a stone facade with classical design elements, arched windows, and decorative moldings. The exterior shows how builders combined practical construction with artistic details on the walls.

The church's origin dates to 14 October 1163, when Giovanni Fica donated land near a bridge over the Cosia to the Crocigeri, who built a church, monastery and the hospital of San Bartolomeo. The original church stood further north; the present building was rebuilt several times and became a parish church only at the end of the 18th century. Antonio Nolfi restructured it between 1779 and 1786, and around 1899 the transept, tiburio and apse were added.

The church keeps works brought here from suppressed or demolished Como churches: a Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian from San Sebastiano, an Assumption attributed to Giulio Cesare Procaccini from Santa Chiara, and a Madonna with Saints Adalberto, Gervasio and Protasio from San Protaso, destroyed in 1883. The altarpiece of the titular saint is attributed to Jacopo Palma the Younger.

The church stands in Como on the stretch of via Milano where the viali Roosevelt and Giulio Cesare meet, near the covered course of the Cosia stream. The old San Bartolomeo bridge there was buried by the 1937 covering works and is no longer visible. The former Santa Chiara convent, now a school, stands on the same street.

The right side of the church preserves a plaque and a ring commemorating the reputed miracle of 1529, when a crucifix carried in procession by Celestine friars from the Annunciata reportedly broke the chains barring the San Bartolomeo bridge. The bridge itself is no longer visible: the Cosia stream was covered over in 1937.