Chiesa di Santa Maria di Reggio

The church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Snow, also known as Santa Maria di Reggio or ‘delle Monache’ is located in Via Mantova in Arco. Built between 1621 and 1625 on the initiative of the Arcense writer Ambrogio Franco. It’s built on the site of a capital that houses the image of the Madonna della Ghiara of Reggio Emilia. Capital built at the beginning of the century by Ambrogio Franco himself.

The niche with the image of the Madonna and the donor is now inserted in the back wall of the presbytery of the church. In 1684-1685 the temple was bought by Arcangela Biondini, a nun of the monastery of the Servants of Burano (Venice) to make it the church of the monastery that her mother intended to found in Arco. The church still belongs to the Servants of Mary.

The building, oriented to the east, has a narrow facade between Tuscan pilasters, supporting a triangular pediment, broken. In the centre there is an architraved portal with a triangular pediment, surmounted by a large window with a mixed profile. The church has a single nave, on the left side of which there is a chapel framed by an arched profile. The presbytery, raised on a step, is barrel-turned. The church has a rich fresco decoration by Domenico Udine around 1840.

History Church of Santa Maria di Reggio

The edicule is dedicated to the Madonna della Ghiara, a copy of that of Bertone in Reggio Emilia. On the site of this capital is built the church attached to the monastery of the Servants of Mary.

Between 1621 and 1636 permission was given to build a church in the place where the capital stood. The first stone, blessed by the archpriest of Arco Andrea Tomei is dated 28 October 1621. In 1625 the first mass is celebrated. In 1684 Arcangela Biondini, a nun of the monastery of the Servants of Burano, she obtained permission from Emperor Leopold I of Habsburg to found a convent of the Servants of Mary. The place appointed to the foundation, agreed with the prince bishop of Trento Francesco Alberti Poja, is located in the southern outskirts of Arco, next to the church recently built by Ambrogio Franco.

The design of the monastic complex is elaborated by Arcangela Biondini. On 10 March 1689 the nun moved to Arco with her sisters.

In 1811 the convent of the Servants of Mary was suppressed by Napoleonic decree. The nuns of Reggio leave their monastery on 31 October of that year and are housed first at the House of the Podestà of Arco and then by the English Dames of Rovereto. In 1818 the nuns returned to their monastery in Arco.

Around 1840 the church was restored. The works included the realization of the fresco decoration by Domenico Udine, the renewal of the benches, the introduction of a new balustrade and the reconstruction of the church floor.