La Church of San Siro n Bianzone, with its elegant architecture and recently renovated churchyard, is a distinctive symbol of the village. Its history and that of the parish are closely linked, with origins dating back to 1100, thanks to a donation from the Bormina sisters Nelucia and Pagana of the Tower.
Architectural Evolution and Restoration
Initially, the church maintained a austere Romanesque appearance until 1500, when it underwent extensions and renovations, completed on 1 August 1543. Recent restoration work, financed partly by the Valtellina law and partly by the community, has brought back its former magnificence.
La Baroque-style façade features an elegant columned pronaos protecting the 18th-century carved wooden entrance portal. The bell tower, probably of mediaeval origin at the base, has five storeys, with mullioned and three-light windows. The plan of the church is a latin cross, with a main nave and two smaller naves, each with four chapels. Above the entrance is a carved wooden chancel.
Artistic treasures inside
Inside, in the left aisle, stands the baptismal font, a marble basin enclosed by a valuable 16th-century wooden ciborium. On the altar of the first adjacent chapel is a striking gilded wooden altarpiece depicting The Last Supper, attributed to Cipriano Valorsa. L’high altar is embellished with a majestic wooden ciborium carved, carved and gilded in the shape of a small temple.
The interior of the church is dominated by the great Valorsa fresco in the chapel of St Peter Martyr (first on the right). Also interesting is the Chapel of St Ursula, also on the right, just before the transept.
One of the most surprising discoveries of the latest restoration is the pictorial cycle located next to the high altar, on the right. This is an entire wall frescoed with paintings depicting episodes from the life of the Virgin Mary.
