Attention! The resolution of the browser does not permit the correct visualization of this website
Cookies disclaimer

Our site saves small pieces of text information (cookies) on your device in order to deliver better content and for statistical purposes. You can disable the usage of cookies by changing the settings of your browser. By browsing our website without changing the browser settings you grant us permission to store that information on your device.

I agree I disagree

logo Marostica A place to love, to live in, to visit

Share

To live in Church of Saint Antonio Abate

The first records mentioning this church date back to the year 1383, which suggests that this religious building was already in place at the time of the Scaligeri rule (1311-1387). It was built on the site where a hospice for pilgrims is very likely to have existed. At first, the church had a simple structure. From 1440 documentary sources certify the existence of a small convent of Franciscan friars, adjacent to the church. The friars remained there until 1656 when the convent was closed because it was too poor and deprived of revenues. In the 1600s the church and the convent passed under the direction of the Brotherhood of Carmine. In 1730-1740 the church was renovated and enlarged, as certified by the inscription on the facade, assuming its current dimensions. Afterwards and until its establishment as parish church (1930), it was a subsidiary church dependent on the Church of Santa Maria Assunta. The structure of the bell tower reminds of the shape of a tower, with a bell chamber equipped with double-light pointed arch windows completed by a conical cusp, of considerable architectural interest.

Show in-depth text Hide in-depth text

The inside

The inside of the church, a single chamber, hosts the most valuable work of art of the town of Marostica: the altarpiece of the high altar known as Saint Paul’s
Sermon at the Areopagus in Athens by Jacopo Dal Ponte (c.1510-1592), known as Bassano, and by his son Francesco, painted in 1574. The church abounds in altars that are embellished by frontals dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries. The frontal of every altar is rich in decorations that refer to the saint to whom the altar is dedicated. It is in stone and engraved scagliola and it bears witness to the presence on the territory of scagliola master-engravers who were very skilled and experienced. The frescoes with Saint Anthony the Abbot in Glory in the three compartments of the ceiling are attributable to Giuseppe Graziani (1699-after 1760). Friar Felice Cignaroli (1727-1796) is the author of the altarpiece (1768) that depicts The Descent of Christ and saints. A proof of the Franciscan presence is the painting by Luca Martinelli (1617) depicting the Holy Trinity and Saints Ludwig of Toulouse, Bonaventura, Francis and Pope Pius V beside the Trinity.

The outside cloister

The outside cloister is the only remaining original part of the ancient Convent of Sant’Antonio Abate. A simple structure developing on two sides, it is a cloister with a portico, with a small inner garden, a small orchard and a few small rooms that clearly prove the simplicity and the parsimony of the Franciscan way of life. The portico of the cloister shelters some sculptures showing Saint Rocco and Saint Sebastian, dating back to the XV century, Saint Bernardino of Siena and Saint Joseph, Saint Peter and Saint Paul, sculptures that were once in the presbytery of the Church of Sant’Antonio Abate. The sepulchral tombstone bearing the inscription that recalls the burial of Cornelio Bianchi and his wife, Elisabetta, is of particular historical interest. The tombstone comes from the small no longer existing church of San Benedetto which was built around mid-sixteen century on the homonymous hills on the way to Bassano by Cornelio Bianchi himself, a wealthy Venetian physician.

To love

Titolo di questa sezione correlata

Taste again

To visit

This point of interest is part of

To live

Events

All the events to live

Accomodations