MADONNINA IN PRATO

History

The church is mentioned for the first time in 1567, and is called "Santa Maria di Prato of the place of Biumo Inferiore". Originally it was probably a simple votive chapel, located at the point where the castle of Biumo Inferiore ended and the meadows that separated it from the village of Varese began. Perhaps the devotion to the ancient fresco of the Madonna enthroned, still preserved inside the building, led to the construction in the fifteenth century. of a church. Later the building underwent various transformations and was entirely frescoed. The chapel on the left, known as the Magi Chapel, housed a painting by Procaccini now kept in the parish church of Biumo, representing the Adoration of the Magi. On the walls the frescoes represent the Massacre of the Innocents by Antonio Busca. The chapel on the right is instead called San Carlo: the oil painting by Lampugnani is dedicated to him and also the frescoes on the walls refer to episodes from the life of the Saint.

The dome, also the work of Busca, depicts the Assumption of Mary.