Ancient Church of San Rocco in Brignano Gera d’Adda, 2025-2026

RESCUE AND ENHANCEMENT OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH OF SAN ROCCO (Brignano Gera d’Adda)

The church of San Rocco, in Brignano Gera d’Adda, represents a significant testimony to the historical and artistic heritage of the Bergamo area.

Closed to the public for years and in a state of serious abandonment, the building is in a condition that has compromised its preservation and usability: the deterioration of the wooden and wall structures, the critical roofing, and the widespread degradation of the decorated surfaces and frescoes have made the church inaccessible and structurally vulnerable.

At the end of the summer of 2025, a project to restore and safeguard the church was launched, aimed at restoring the roofs and mapping the state of decay of the internal surfaces. The project represents the first step in a broader project, aimed not only at the material preservation of the building but also at rediscovering an asset deeply rooted in the history and identity of the area in which it is located.

The situation of the church of San Rocco reflects a condition common to many other areas in Lombardy and Italy: an extraordinary wealth of historical and architectural heritage coexists with the profound socioeconomic transformations of recent decades. Recovering this building therefore means reversing a process of abandonment and restoring new centrality to an asset that can once again become an integral part of the community’s cultural life.

Alongside its conservation work, the project promotes study and research activities dedicated to the history of the church, its construction history, and the fresco cycle, still largely unpublished, that decorates its interior spaces. The documentation produced will contribute to expanding knowledge on a previously little-studied complex, making new data and in-depth tools available to the scientific community.

The ultimate goal is to return the church of San Rocco to community life, transforming it once again into a place of encounter, knowledge, and participation.

In this sense, the community of Brignano Gera d’Adda will be able to reclaim an identity space capable of hosting cultural initiatives, visits, outreach activities, and gatherings. Visitors and tourists will have the chance to rediscover the value of this church returned to the cultural itineraries of the area. The scientific and academic community will be able to benefit from the research and technical documentation produced by having the opportunity to study and delve deeper into previously completely unpublished topics.

Finally, this property could become a place for cultural heritage education, where educational activities, educational initiatives, and training programs can foster greater awareness of the value of protection and conservation. Only through knowledge, in fact, can cultural heritage continue to be recognized as a common good and passed on to future generations.

PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS

Parrocchia di Santa Maria Assunta in Brignano Gera d’Adda (BG)
Associazione Giovanni Secco Suardo

Designer and Director of the restoration work on the roofs of the church of San Rocco
Architect Marco Ermentini of Studio Ermentini Architetti

Study and investigation of the interior frescoes of the church
Maria Cristina Regini of Cremona Restauri srl

Historical-archival research on the historical and architectural events of the church of San Rocco
Arch. Paolo Mazzariol

Historical-artistic research of the works in the church of San Rocco
Prof. Enrico De Pascale

Project funded by Fondazione Cariplo, supporter of the project “Rescue and enhancement of the Church of San Rocco” as part of the call for proposals “SOS Patrimonio 2025”.

with the contribution of

© Photographs by Renato Liguori, 2026