Church of S. Michele or Madonna della Strà

At the time of the visit, in August 2004, the church of San Michele (or Madonna della Strà) at Belfiore was undergoing restoration work, needed to clear some stretches of the perimeter walls of damp. This work also involved plastering the interior, as well as work on the exterior, certainly not carried out according to strictly archaeological criteria. Inside, the apse area was moreover completely hidden by scaffolding. From the study of an inscribed stone [1] , we know that the church of Belfiore was built in 1143 (this is an interpretation rather than a translation: in fact, according to Carlo Tosco, in “Architetti e committenti nel romanico lombardo”, this inscription, kept in the Museo Lapidario Mattei in Verona and coming from the church of the Madonna della Strà at Belfiore (or church of San Michele), would indicate as patron a certain “Ambrogio sacerdote” and as architects Boigo and Malfato, and a chronology in the second quarter of the 12th century. The text is as follows: “SACERDOS A(m)BROSIUS FUIT AUTOR UIUS OPERIS BOIGO – ET MALFATO” The building was restored in 1651, when the side walls of the aisles were rebuilt. In 1894 it became necessary to prop up the façade. In 1905 the church underwent a further radical restoration. A good part of the upper parts of the nave was demolished and rebuilt, and the interior was altered with the addition of new openings, which made it possible to uncover frescoes. Some scholars date the origin of this monument, on the basis of the type of some of the capitals inside, to the 8th or 9th century; other capitals, however, could be ascribed to the 11th-12th century. Other scholars give a more precise dating, indicating the year 1143 and dating the Corinthian capitals to 775. The two capitals in front of the main apse are dated to the 9th century (reused material). Two inscriptions of the 12th and 13th centuries are set into the pillars of the church. The first, on the second support on the right from the entrance, recalls “Alberico, smith of Zevio, who wishes to honour St. Michael with his art”; the second, on the corresponding pillar on the other side, mentions a feat of arms that took place in 1200. All these elements make a secure dating of the present Romanesque building difficult (see photo plan) . An early medieval origin (with a plan yet to be determined) could be hypothesised, considering the specifically decorative finds dating from the 8th-9th century, with a rebuilding (perhaps only partial) of part of the structures in the 12th century – after the earthquake of 1117, which affected a large part of the Po valley. Façade The church has the classic tripartite façade, made, like San Pietro di Villanova, with bands of light-coloured (tufaceous) stone alternating with courses of red brick (see photo façade) . Unlike San Pietro, however, where this type of masonry is limited to the upper parts only, here the two-colour effect extends over the whole surface of the façade, even though the horizontal lines are not always precisely kept. The portal is simply made (probably a Renaissance reconstruction), with two monolithic jambs in red Verona marble and a lintel, also monolithic, in light tufaceous stone. Above it is a gabled porch, again in tufaceous stone, with a large round arch (inside the porch there are no remains of frescoes or decoration), in turn surmounted by a two-light window with a dividing colonnette and a crutch capital. Above this opening, a purely decorative addition, there is a small window closed by a slab of tufaceous stone, decorated with pierced geometric motifs. A decorative detail rather unusual for churches of the Verona area was the presence of five painted ceramic dishes, three of which were set into the wall in line with the raised nave (two at the sides, close to where the roofs of the aisles meet the nave, unfortunately missing, and one in the centre of the two-light window, preserved); another was set at the apex of the façade, below the small human head of the uppermost blind arch (see photo façade detail) , while the last is set at the apex of the porch, above the round arch, and is still partly preserved. The eaves of the façade have a double crowning, consisting, in the upper part, of a sawtooth cornice in light stone, while lower down there is the series of small monolithic arches in light stone, with a slight incision to emphasise the arch, supported by small bellows-shaped corbels [2] . Between the sawtooth cornice and the band of small blind arches, along the whole eaves line of the façade, there is a series of triangular panels decorated in relief with the same plant motif ( see photo small arches) . The four monolithic stones supporting the roof slopes, which are also found in the opposite, eastern part of the building, deserve separate consideration; they are well-squared stones decorated with plant motifs of fairly refined execution. At the top of the nave, a cross surmounts a series of spheres (a small bridge?). The same motif is also present in the corresponding position, at the apex of the front of the nave, to the east. Side aisle Only the north perimeter wall is now visible (the south side wall is in fact partly incorporated into modernised and residential structures). The masonry of the aisle cannot be examined because of the thick layer of restoration plaster. On this side there is a door (a late addition). The side wall of the nave, also with clear signs of restoration or rebuilding, is made of plain cobbles laid in a sort of opus spicatum , in very thick layers of mortar, interrupted by a horizontal band of pink Verona stones and, below the eaves, by another band of well-squared grey stones with little mortar (restoration work?) Apse area In this part of the building too, the eaves have the same motif of small blind arches, identical in workmanship to those of the façade (photo 5 – apse area); only the triangular panels above the small arches change: on the façade, as already seen, they are of tufaceous stone decorated with plant motifs, whereas here they are simple smooth panels of red terracotta, which accentuates, in the upper parts of the building as well, the two-colour effect characteristic of the façade. The peculiarity of the apse area should be emphasised: the two side apses are of different sizes, the southern one being lower and smaller than the northern one. But what is most striking, and not only because of the different colour, is the clear difference in construction between the lower and the upper parts (see photo apse area 2) . South apse : the base, for about one metre from the ground, retains the rough character of foundation masonry. The level above, by contrast, has differently assembled masonry: plain, unworked stones (cobbles), laid in herringbone pattern, alternate with horizontal bands of well-squared light tufaceous stones. A simple single lancet is set in the centre. The next level, up to the roof, is entirely plastered. The same type of construction adopted in this part of the building is repeated in the central apse ; well-squared stones in thin layers of mortar, with inserts of pinkish stones, alternating with cobbles in herringbone pattern. In the upper part (the dividing line is roughly at half the total height of the apse), the stones are of excellent workmanship over the whole surface, given the very little mortar used. Perhaps restoration work has made the difference in execution and the break with the lower parts so conspicuous. As for the openings, a modern square window is set into the rougher part, while in the upper part there is a triple-splayed single lancet, framed by a very beautiful ornamental plant motif with two pecking birds at the sides ( see photo single lancet) . The decoration of the eaves of this apse, from which any trace of colour contrast is absent, is rather complex: from the classic sequence of small blind arches with elongated bellows-shaped corbels, placed lower down, one passes to a sawtooth cornice surmounted, in turn, by a band with some decorated stretches still visible, of which the part from the centre towards the right is completely missing, while on the other side there is an alternation of floral and plant interlace motifs. The exception is the last visible block on the left, which has a different decoration, apparently unrelated to the others. The last stretch of this cornice is unfinished: it keeps the rounded edges and the interlaced plant motif, although the inner spaces left by the interlace are undecorated. continued >>> [1] The historical and chronological data are taken from the work of Luigina Tregnaghi, “Chiese romaniche del medio e basso veronese”, Verona, 1964 [2] As regards this decorative detail, given its considerable presence in Romanesque buildings of the area, it would almost be possible to state that it is a distinctive, almost scholastic feature, that is, an artistic model widespread among craftsmen sculptors working in a relatively restricted area such as the diocese of Verona at the beginning of the 12th century. Examples are first and foremost: in Verona, San Zeno (façade); San Pietro di Villanova; at Bardolino, San Severo, where however the corbels are made of terracotta; and the Romanesque remains of the church of Santa Maria Assunta at Cisano, again on Lake Garda, where one passes from the simplicity of the bellows-shaped terracotta corbels set into the façade to the majesty of those in white stone set beneath the small arches of the apse.