St. Charles Church, Arona, Italy

The church of Saint Charles in Arona was designed by architect Francesco Maria Richini and built starting from 1614.

The building consists of a single large square room in a baroque style. The motto of the Borromeo family “Humilitas” is written in the centre of the black and white marble floor. The inside of the late baroque dome was painted in the early XVIII century.

From the two doors either side of the altar, you reach a corridor that encircles a chapel dedicated to the birth of Saint Charles. This room is a reproduction of the “room of the three lakes”: in fact, some parts of the room of the castle, where the saint was born, were brought here in order to allow better access to the pilgrims. In the chapel, two closets with wood inlay doors, preserve relics of the saint.

In the same corridor there is a sedan chair, used by Saint Charles, and a wooden model of Milan Cathedral made by the seminarists of the local seminary, on occasion of the third centenary of the saint’s death.

Religious sites in Italy

User Reviews

AnnaRè (11 months ago)
Chapel overlooking the square together with the large statue of the saint. Inside there is a wooden sedan chair and a path that illustrates the life of the saint, whose relics it houses. From some windows you can admire a wonderful panorama of Lake Maggiore.

Paolo Maggiani (12 months ago)
Some photos of the Church located near the Colossus of San Carlo Borromeo and dedicated to him; Unfortunately I wasn't able to visit it due to lack of time.

Desiree Lombardo (5 years ago)
The park is very beautiful, well maintained and equipped for picnics if the season allows it. The statue of San Carlone was the inspiration for the Statue of Liberty, so I would say it is worth visiting to understand its history. Due to Covid at the moment you can only go up to the terrace, normally you can enter the statue to climb up to the head.

Filip Sabo (7 years ago)
Quite nice. The road to get there from Arona is very steep. Not good to go with a bike.

UnusedElement (7 years ago)
It's just a church, nothing special. But the exhibition inside is cool.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Infomastern

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Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.

Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.

There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.

St. Charles Church

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