Saint Anthony the Great church, Romanesque church in Brenzone, Italy
The church of Sant'Antonio Abate stands at the western end of the hamlet of Biaza, in the comune of Brenzone sul Garda, on a high terrace above the road and facing Lake Garda. Its facade has only an oculus; a rustic roof projects over the single entrance and shelters a 14th–15th-century fresco of Saint Christopher. The square bell tower has a four-pitched tile roof, and a small semicircular apse projects at the rear.
The first documented mention is in the 1421 will of Giovanni fu Benedetto da Brenzone, which also records an adjacent cemetery; the oldest frescoes suggest the building may date to the second half of the 14th century. In 1456 Ermolao Barbaro called it a chapel dependent on the parish church, and from the 16th century the Brenzone family held patronage rights over it. It was closed on 19 July 1806 under the Napoleonic suppressions and returned to worship by 1833, when Giuseppe Grasser made a pastoral visit.
The 1421 testament of Giovanni fu Benedetto da Brenzone, the church's first documentary mention, also records an adjacent cemetery. On the north wall, a late-15th-century fresco shows the Brenzone family coat of arms with a Madonna and Child and kneeling devotees, naming patrons Paolo Brenzone fu Delaido and his wife Laurezia, who commissioned a now-lost funeral monument.
The church stands at the western end of Biaza, on a high terrace above the road, with the facade facing Lake Garda. The only entrance is on the south side, sheltered by a lean-to roof that also protects a 14th–15th-century fresco of Saint Christopher. The interior is a single hall with a raised presbytery; the north wall is blind, so the frescoes there are lit only by the small splayed window beyond the bell tower.
The oldest frescoes on the north wall are layered: a mid-14th-century Last Supper showing bread, wine, prawns and cherries lies beneath a late-15th-century layer with the Brenzone family coat of arms and a Madonna and Child with donors, Paolo Brenzone fu Delaido and his wife Laurezia, who likely commissioned a now-lost funeral monument.
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