At 1200 m/asl is the area of Bellavista on Monte Generoso, which can be reached by car, rack railway or on foot. The Oratory of our Lady of the Assumption is in the hamlet known as “Cascina d’Armirone”.
Various signs of the past have been found and documented as far back as 1563 regarding this hamlet and the important activities of animal husbandry which took place here.
In the second half of the 19th century, partly due to the dying out of the Alpine economy, Carlo Pasta decided to invest in the tourist trade and to build two hotels on Monte Generoso, one at the Bellavista and one at the Peak. Encouraged by his example the Chiaverio family thus decided to open a tavern with accommodation near the Cascina d’Armirone. Since it differed from the other structures on the mountain regarding prices and offered a very cordial homely service, the inn immediately became very popular. So the activity of the inn continued successfully until about 1970, when the tavern and the adjoining farm building were demolished.
The Oratory of our Lady of the Assumption was blessed and consecrated on 29 June 1751. It should have become the place of worship for the inhabitants of the nearby farming settlement, but shortly afterwards the Bishop of Como, Monsignor Giovan Battista Albrizio Pellegrini, documented its state of deterioration.
Unfortunately the state of conservation of the oratory did not improve over time, though it remained the place of worship where Mass was celebrated; for this reason in 1890 a restoration of the building was decided on, with little result.
The Monte Generoso Foundation, which had become owner of a vast area of the land on Monte Generoso, decided to see to the restoration of the oratory in 2004-2005, taking on the financial burden together with the Canton. The architect, Fosco Moretti, who did his best for the work of conservation and restoration, was not able to restore the original decorations of the vault, which was partly caved in, though he succeeded in the overall intervention, which was finished in 2009.
The oratory building appears with a simple gabled facade. Today the interior shows us a rectangular room covered with a barrel vaulted ceiling put in place in 1890. A lowered arch signals the passage to a short presbytery raised by one step and covered by a cross vault. Above the simple altar a frame in masonry holds a painting of Our Lady, painted by Silvano Gilardi to substitute the original altar piece.
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