Chiesa di Sant’Andrea

The church of Sant’Andrea di Torbole is located on a hill from which you can enjoy a splendid view of the lake. You can admire the looming rocks and the ruins of Penede. Two long staircases rise from the old town. Its history is lost in the darkness of time. The current structure is the result of a series of successive extensions and changes.

The oldest document that recalls the church dates back to 1175: it was a small chapel already then dedicated to the Saint fisherman, elected patron by the inhabitants of the village grouped at the foot of the hill that lived, precisely, fishing.
At the time of the Venetian domination on the Alto Garda (1440-1509) the port of Torbole became an important landing place for large vessels carrying goods and the economic life of the country recorded a significant improvement, resulting in an increase in the population that required an expansion of the church and a regular religious service.

It was enlarged with the construction of two side chapels (of the Madonna and of S. Antonio) and equipped with a benefit, that is a series of assets that allow the maintenance of a stable curate available to the population. Lacurazia, however, depended on the archpriest church of Nago, and the inhabitants of Torbole were required to go there for the most important religious services.

After the devastation caused by the passage of the French troops of General Vendome in 1703, the church was rebuilt in Baroque style, and takes on more or less the current shape and size. In 1741 the curacy obtained a certain autonomy from the archpriest of Nago. The fact induces some Torbola landowners to engage in the embellishment of the temple, with the construction of the baptistery and the marble frame that the following year will welcome the altarpiece with the martyrdom of St. Andrew. This large painting, placed behind the high altar, is the work of the Veronese painter, famous at all European courts, Giambettino Cignaroli (1706-1770), who painted it while he was a guest of the Giuliani family of Torbole. Once the shovel was covered by a curtain, which protected it from dust and other external agents. Who wanted to see it had to turn to the sacristan, who raised the curtain “for a small coin”.
The current bell tower, with bells and clock, was built in 1758. During a pastoral visit (1839) the bishop of Trento Giovanni Nepomuceno de Tschiderer, recently beatified by Pope John Paul II, finally consecrated the church with a solemn ceremony. But only in 1919 will it be elevated to the dignity of a parish.
It is interesting to visit, behind the church, the funeral monument of the famous writer Vincenzo Errante, who was, as the plaque recalls “of Catullus and Goethe and the major muses of ancient Greece of Germany of England and France admirable exegete and recreator for Italy”. During his long stay in Riva, the great translator often came to this place, where he was fascinated by the surrounding landscape and where he wanted to be buried.

Source: comune.nago-torbole.tn.it