San Donnino Church, Catholic church building in historic center, Como, Italy
San Donnino Church is a church building in Como's historic center featuring a single nave covered by a barrel vault. The interior walls display frescoes from the 16th and 17th centuries, and a neoclassical portico designed by Carlo Polti in 1813 marks the main entrance.
The church first appears in written records from the late 13th century and underwent major reconstructions afterward. These changes transformed it into a structure with two naves and five altars.
The name comes from Saint Donnino, the patron depicted in the 17th-century altarpiece with the Madonna, the Christ Child and another saint, probably Abbondio. Since the first quarter of the 21st century the church has belonged to the parish community of the Basilica of San Fedele and also serves Greek-Catholic Ukrainian faithful living in the Como area.
The church stands at the top of a staircase, entered through the 1813 neoclassical portico by Carlo Polti. The bell tower, rebuilt in 1770 and altered in the 19th century, rises beside it. The sacristy, moved to the opposite side of the presbytery in the 19th century, holds the paintings and the 15th-century ivory crucifix from Zaragoza.
The 1770 bell tower was rebuilt in the 19th century; its three bells were cast in 1947 from scrap of the earlier set, which had been requisitioned during World War II. The 17th-century rebuilding also uncovered a 13th-century sculpture of Christ's head, later placed in the sacristy.
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