Beautiful cathedral from the Roman Catholic cult, in Romanesque-Lombard style, with rose window and baroque chapel.
It is the main church in the city and was built on the area where the ancient early Christian basilica of San Vigilio was originally located, from which it takes its name and who is the patron saint of the city[1]. Upon his death, Vigilius was buried in the basilica. Excavations conducted between 1964 and 1977 highlighted the presence of an ancient building with a single nave measuring 14 × 45 m.[2] However, it should be remembered that most likely, before the saint's death, there was a church built according to the Po Valley models, i.e. with a single hall and a semicircular apse facing east. This ancient basilica was built outside the walls because it served as a cemetery church, in fact Saint Vigilius and the three Anaunense martyrs Sisinnio, Martirio and Alessandro were buried here.
The prince-bishop Uldaric II (1022-1055) began the construction of the bishop's palace and the rebuilding of the cathedral. The latter had three naves, with pillars set on base blocks from Roman remains, and is Roman and semi-Greek; moreover, the construction of a crypt was also begun. Altemanno (1124-1149) continued the construction of the crypt (which still exists), which will be consecrated in 1145. But if with Uldarico II the construction proceeded by adapting and using the Roman remains, with Altemanno new quarries were opened, thus ending the dependence from the classical remains.
Bishop Federico Vanga (1207-1218) decided to completely rebuild the cathedral from the foundations, entrusting the project to the workers of Como led by Adamo d'Arogno, as attested by a plaque walled into the base of the apse, which reads in Latin as in the year 1212, in the presence of Bishop Federico Vanga, the master of the diocese of Como Adamo d'Arogno began and built this church which was then completed by his sons and grandsons. Construction began in 1212, but when Vanga died in Terrasanta the works went into crisis. However, Federico Vanga's project was substantially respected by his successors, who continued the construction while maintaining the main characteristics established in the project, namely:
three naves divided by beam columns;
protruding transept equipped with lantern;
nave ending east of the cross vault with a very deep presbytery and a semicircular apse;
two bell towers on the facade, of which only one was completed, as can be seen from the facade, which is incomplete where the second bell tower was to be built, and from the inside, with a staircase that stops at the walls; this gives the façade an asymmetrical appearance (in the church of the Santissima Trinità, in via Santa Trinità, an engraving of both bell towers can be seen, at the foot of a side altar);
side door to the north with a prothyrum;
bud-shaped capitals.