The Oratory of San Giulio in Gagnone, a small hamlet of Druogno, stands along the road connecting Domodossola and the Vigezzo Valley and was the last building that emigrants from Vigezzo left behind before leaving for distant lands (stories of emigration from this valley, including chimney-sweeps and painters, are countless and are worth discovering at the cultural sites dedicated to them). For this reason, next to the Oratory of San Giulio stands the Chapel of farewell: here family members emotionally waved farewell to their loved ones who were about to emigrate across the border. The small chapel is located near the “Mountain Garden”, a small open-air museum that houses some fascinating stone sculptures by the Milanese artist Giancarlo Sangregorio.
The Oratory of San Giulio, today deconsecrated, stands alone on the surrounding lawns. Inside, the single-roomed building still has decorations in stucco of capitals and frames and, in the vault of the presbytery, a fresco by the Vigezzo painters.
Inside, in addition to the municipal library, there’s the valuable Museum of Old Postcards, whose collection boasts about 3000 postcards, from the end of the 1800s to the last century. The landscapes and characters of the Vigezzo Valley portrayed in the museum allow us to retrace the history of the natural and architectural changes that have affected the Painters’ Valley. Part of the postcard collection is now digitalised and can be accessed thanks to a modern multimedia system.
Info: circuitodeisanti.it
