ISOLA DEI PESCATORI -- CHIESA SAN VITTORE

(SAINT VICTOR CHURCH)

The first part at the base is in Romanesque style and dates to the 9th century with the present day Baptistery being the location of the ancient apse.

The church is dedicated to a 1st or 2nd century martyr, Saint Victor, whose remains are interned under the high altar in the Isola Bella church.

The high altar is in Baroque style made of wood covered by gold-leaf finished in 1600.  Inside is wooden statue of the 'Pieta' stolen in 1993 with angels' and saints' statues; only the Pieta was recoved in 2001.

Throughout the interior are busts and wooden statues of local histtorical dignataries. The floor (1878) is made of Venetian mosaic depicting the devine mystery through a written catechesis.

BAVENO --

THE PARISH CHURCH OF SANTI GERVASIO AND PROTASIO

The church stands in the 16th century Piazza della Chiesa; the historical center of Baveno.  The church itself was consecrated 13 May 1343, but documentation dates to a rural church being here back in the 10th century.

Two Roman inscriptions at the side entrance door denote that the church is definately of Romanesque origin with the six-story bell tower dating to about a century later.

One inscription dating to mid-1st century states 'Trophimus Daphidianus servo di Tiberio Claudio Caesar Augusto' translated 'this monument is sacred to the eternal memory of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus'.

The interior has a single nave with side chapels containing frescoes dating from the 13th to 15th centuries and a 16th century wooden crucifix.

The baptistery next to the church is a small building of uncertain origin decorated with Romanesque frescoes.

the complex on the Piazza is completed with a long frescoed portico of the Via Crucis (stations of the cross) made up of rounded arches supported by granite columns. The whole complex should be seen at night when lit-up.