La Church of St Peter Martyr, located adjacent to the Church of San Siro in Bianzone, boasts a history full of transformations. In the 17th century it belonged to the confraternity of the White Disciples, whose members were depicted by Valorsa in the chapel of San Siro.
Architecture and evolution of sacred furnishings
His green stone portal of the 17th century, with a broken tympanum and original wooden window frames, leads to a unique room with a vault enriched with stuccoes. After years of neglect and modifications that altered its appearance, the oratory was restored in the early 1980s.
In the past, the presbytery housed a sumptuous gilded wooden altar dedicated to St Peter Martyr, by the Donati brothers of Isolaccia in 1711. The latter was later sold and replaced by a splendid altar dedicated to St Anthony of Padua.
The altar
This altar, from the private chapel of the Mevio family, is a finely carved lime wood work, attributed to Giovan Battista de Piaz, who completed it in 1632. It was originally placed in the family church dedicated to St. Anthony, which remained open for worship until 1860 and was then turned into a warehouse and opened only on the occasion of the Corpus Christi procession.
In 1927, in order to resolve a co-ownership situation, the Mevio heirs ceded the altar to the church of San Siro in exchange for full ownership of the family church. The altar, which includes a well-preserved canvas attributed to Muttoni, was cleaned and reassembled in the right transept of the parish church. It remained there until November 1983, when it was finally moved to the small church of St Peter Martyr, where he seems to have found his final resting place.
