San Leonardo, Borgomanero

San Leonardo is a Romanesque-style Roman Catholic oratory or small former church in the town of Borgomanero, province of Novara, Piedmont, Italy.

History

A church at the site was built between 1125 and 1150 under the patronage of the Marquis of Pombia, and served as the first parish church and housed an adjacent hospice for pilgrims. The stone church underwent various refurbishments, and the interior was restored in the 1980s, restoring the interior closer to the original Romanesque appearance and removing additions over the centuries. It is open on Saturdays to visitors.

The apse was frescoed in the 13th century by an unknown painter from the workshop of the Master of Angera. Traces remain of frescoes depicting Christ Pantocrator with the symbols of the Evangelists, the twelve Apostles, the months of the year,a series of saints; and a Last Supper with Judas' Betrayal. Another fresco depicts the Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew in the second bay on the left.

In the fifteenth century, further frescoes were added by the Master of Borgomanero, depicting a Madonna and child, a Trinity, a Madonna del Latte, and a Madonna with Saints Peter and Paul, and a Nativity. Finally, the church also has a 16th century fresco, also by an anonymous painter, depicting the Madonna of the Sette Dolori.^[1]

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