MONUMENTAL CHURCH OF SAN GAUDENZIO IN BACENO ** TIMES FOR VISITING THE CHURCH From Monday to Saturday: morning, from 09.00 to 12.00 afternoon, from 15.00 to 17.30 Sunday and holidays: morning, from 09.00 to 10.15 afternoon, from 14.30 to 17.15 For group visits with a guide, arrange by calling 0324 / 62045 – (Elena, Albergo Vecchio Scarpone, tel. 0324 62023 for booking guided tours). BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CHURCH The first documents that testify to the existence of a primitive chapel date back to the early 1000s. In fact, Bascapè, bishop of Novara from 1593 to 1615, in his book "Novaria Sacra", highlights a document about the existence in Baceno of a "cappellam" donated to the canons of S. Maria di Novara by Gualberto, bishop of Novara from 1032 to 1039. The rectangular chapel was located where the presbytery is currently located. Built in Lombard Romanesque, it was dedicated to S. Gaudenzio, the first bishop of Novara (337-417). The first expansion dates back to between the 12th and 13th centuries. Since there was not enough space, the orientation was changed, north-south, building the part that is now the central nave (including the two aisles) and the Romanesque façade between the two pilasters. In 1326, where the access to the original chapel was located, the cleric Signebaldo de Baceno son of Giacomo erected the chapel of the Madonna. As Christianity spread more and more among the people of Antigorio, the need was felt for a new expansion and embellishment of the church with the addition of the current side naves. The occasion was given in 1486 by the marriage of Bernardino de Baceno, imperial vassal of Antigorio and Formazza, with the noblewoman Ludovica Trivulzio, daughter of Antonio Trivulzio, representative of the Duke of Milan in Ossola. Towards the end of the 15th century, work began on the construction of the side naves, thus highlighting the Gothic style, and at the same time the frescoes were painted, which were completed only in 1542 with the large Crucifixion on the right wall of the presbytery. Starting from the last decade of the 16th century, as a consequence of the new norms dictated by the Council of Trent, the interior of the church was subjected to new interventions that significantly modified its structure, with the consequent result that the Baroque was added to the Romanesque and Gothic.
Architecture At the center of the Romanesque stone façade of the monumental Church of San Gaudenzio stands the portal, surmounted by a rose window and flanked by the large fresco of San Cristoforo, painted in 1542. At the entrance, the breadth of the basilica church is highlighted, with five naves, divided by four series of different columns and characterized by a markedly sloping floor, composed of slabs of serizzo. The difference in height between the beginning of the nave and the base of the steps of the presbytery is about 90 centimeters. The side naves are made up of ten splendidly frescoed transepts; in addition to the imposing ciborium of the main altar, seven side altars dedicated respectively to: San Rocco, San Giovanni Battista, Santa Vittoria, the Blessed Virgin Mary, San Pietro, Sant'Antonio Abate and San Carlo Borromeo enrich the Church of San Gaudenzio. The oldest and most artistically valuable part of the building is the Chapel of the Madonna (now of the Rosary), built in 1326; it is located in the nave to the right of the altar, and its wonderful frescoes are dedicated to the life of Mary. In the presbytery, on the right, there is the large Crucifixion (1542), a work by Antonio Zanetti known as Bugnate, below the figures of Adam and Eve, while on the barrel vault the seven-headed dragon of the Apocalypse is depicted; the transept of the presbytery is enclosed by three arches finely frescoed with prophets and sibyls. At the end of the eastern nave you can admire the sixteenth-century Baptistery consisting of a pedestal in white Crevoladossola marble surmounted by a wooden ciborium containing the baptismal font. To the west of the church in 1628 the chapel of the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament was erected, today used as a winter chapel and intended to guard the Blessed Sacrament. The bell tower from 1522, 50 meters high, the 'new' sacristy and the wooden choir behind the high altar, dating back to the end of the 17th century. The architecture of the church is completed by the beautiful organ of Swiss-Valais manufacture by the organ builders Carlent and Walpen dating back to the first half of the 19th century.
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