Pieve Sant’Andrea

In Roman times Maderno was crossed by a branch of the Via Gallica that connected Brescia to the upper lake; the importance of the site in the imperial age is attested by the large number of epigraphs and sculptures of the Flavian age reused in the Romanesque facade of Sant’Andrea. In medieval times Maderno became the seat of a bishop’s court, perhaps developed from an ancient royal court; it was an important center for the diocese of Brescia, here the powers of the bishop extended from Lake Garda to the river churches and included not only ecclesiastical affairs but also civil and jurisdictional ones; easily the parish church of Sant’Andrea in Maderno was used by the bishops of Brescia as a summer residence, since the relics of San Ercolano (identified as bishop of Brescia), the grandeur and the decoration of the building were also kept here.

The pieve Sant’Andrea rises near the landing in the Gulf of Maderno: the square that separates it from the lake was built in the nineteenth century, expanding the ancient churchyard; the Via Benamati, along the side of the church, corresponds to the ancient Via Regia that traced the route of the Roman road: this, which left Maderno the coastal path to go along a half-coast route, connected the main road to Brescia and Verona with Salò, Toscolano, Gargnano; the importance of the road link conditioned the building’s layout, which appears to be oriented to the northeast. ….. The title suggests a late antique origin, perhaps in connection with the donation of a particle of the relics of the apostle Andrew which is assumed to have been carried out in Brescia in the second half of the fourth century by the bishop Filastrio; some liturgical furnishing elements, reused in Romanesque walls, document their existence in the VIII century; …. the news of the burial of Herculaneum is added in the 11th-12th century martyrologies of Brescia, Verona and Trento and, inside the church, all the figurative testimonies on the saint bishop appear later than the end of the XIII century: it is possible that between the sixth and seventh centuries the apostolic relics attracted the deposition of the remains of the bishop; gradually the church was enriched with other relics, until it reached the consistency of the list of 1342, including the remains of the bishops of Brescia Felice, Ursicino, Faustino.

Pieve Sant’Andrea was mentioned for the first time in a document from 1040, kept in the archive of the monastery of San Pietro al Monte di Serle; the boundaries of its restricted territory were defined to the south by the course of the Bornico, which separated it from the parish church of Salò, while the parish church of Toscolano extended its jurisdiction also on the southern bank of the Toscolano stream with the chapel of San Benedetto al ponte. (G.P.Brogiolo)

Maderno was an important center for the diocese of Brescia, where the powers of the bishop extended from Lake Garda to the river and churches included not only ecclesiastical affairs as well as civil and legal; Easily the Pieve Sant’Andrea in Maderno was used by the bishops of Brescia as a summer home, because here were also preserved relics of St.Ercolano (identified as bishop of Brescia), the grandeur and the decoration of the building.

The construction of the Pieve Sant’Andrea took a long period, from the beginning of the eleventh century and the middle of the twelfth, it is assumed on the foundations of a previous structure that can be seen in the apse of the elements; the original Romanesque structure had three naves with a single central apse at one crypt oratory where they were the relics of San Ercolano. The aisles were separated by two rows of square pillars with leaning against the half-columns, the facade is divided into three parts, the central rose window above a lancet window and the splayed portal richly decorated with marble carved. Since 1343 began building major changes such as the opening of three rooms on the right side to accommodate new altars, including that of San Marco, and were then closed the windows on the sides of the church; in the second half of the sixteenth century was built the pulpit to the left, the original semicircular apse demolished and replaced with a rectangular presbytery topped with a small dome unfinished externally. The main nave was raised to accommodate the new cover with vaults with the replacement of old columns that alternated once the pillars of support. With his visit to the diocese of Brescia in 1580, Carlo Borromeo decided to demolish the crypt, lower the presbytery, built the choir on the left side; at that time the relics of San Ercolano were placed in the sacristy until 1587, when they were placed in the new Baroque altar on the right side. Given the importance of the pieve Sant’Andrea in Maderno, the decorative elements are particularly rich on both the front and inside, with examples found in the churches of Sant’Ambrogio and San Babila in Milan. On the facade, crowned by a pattern of small arches with sculpted elements with human and animal figures, there are two semi-high at the inner aisles, topped with Roman capitals reused; the entrance is decorated with geometric, vegetal and symbolic, including the figure of a lion (symbol of the Resurrection), a two-tailed mermaid (symbol of lust), the lamb and an eagle. Originally there was a wall that enclosed the square that remained until the early twentieth century.

The presence in Maderno of the seat of the council of the Community of Riviera and of the representative of the dominant (from time to time Milan or Venice) favored the commission in Sant’Andrea until the middle of the fifteenth century: undoubtedly the most valuable element is the small panel by Paolo Veneziano, representing the Madonna and Child Enthroned and two offerers, commissioned by Andrea Zeno (1347), which documents the intense Venetian influence on Lake Garda and more generally on the territory Brescia.