The small Oratory of Sant’Antonio Abate and Sant’Antonio da Padova, in Vigezzo Valley, is located in the centre of the village of Craveggia. The architectural structure is slender, surrounded by a wall with a paved terrace, and including a façade porch with three arches, while the entrance portal is flanked laterally by two devotional windows. Internally, the building is a triumph of stucco decorations, dominated by the great altar.
There are conflicting tales of the origin of this oratory as a result of its dedication to two saints. It appears that in Ossola Valley the custom of naming buildings after Sant’Antonio Abate was much older, so it seems that only later on the oratory was dedicated to Sant’Antonio da Padova.
The altarpiece welcomes the two saints in adoration of the Baby Jesus among clouds and angels, whilst the vaults are decorated with fresco medallions inserted in stucco frames with the two saints, a 17th-century work by the Vigezzo painter Carlo Mellerio. On the sides of the entrance portal are two large paintings by Giuseppe Mattia Borgnis, which, originally intended for the parish church, represent moments in the lives of Saint James and Saint Christopher, protectors of the village of Craveggia.
Info: circuitodeisanti.it
