“HISTORIE DIPINTE” E “IMMAGINI PARLATE” SAN CARLO BORROMEO NEGLI AFFRESCHI DI BIASCA

Abstract

The ancient church of Saint Peter in Biasca, in Canton of Ticino, preserves a pictorial cycle on the Life of St. Charles Borromeo, commissioned in 1620 by the parish priest Giovanni Basso to the painter Alessandro Gorla from Bellinzona. The twelve panels, complete with captions, which depict in an ideal order and with a lively language some episodes in the life of the Saint, can be considered an unicum, a direct reference to the presence of St. Charles in the Three Ambrosian Valleys, and a testimony of his reforming pastoral action, implemented according to the resolutions of the Council of Trent also thanks to the charismatic figure of Basso.