Parish Church of Gerosa

The first parish church of Gerosa was dedicated to St. Mary  Assunta, later also called St. Mary in Montanis, desecrated and subject of a recent restoration. It turned out to be a little uncomfortable to reach since Gerosa village developed further down. Therefore, towards the end of  1400 the first church of the Holy Cross was built near the houses. In the minutes of the pastoral visit that Bishop Peter Lippomano effected in October 1538 it is reported that the church of Santa Croce was the most convenient place for the population’s liturgical celebrations, while St. Mary was gradually abandoned. The Holy Cross church was rebuilt not far from the old one in the early eighteenth century following a project designed by the brothers Gian Baptist (1712) and James (1726) Caniana. After having been restored in 1808 and in 1929, it was consecrated on 1^st March 1930. On that occasion, the relics of saints and martyrs Alessandro and Pio were sealed in the main altar. The bell tower is still the same of the first Holy Cross church. It is a majestic and well proportioned building. The convexity of the central body of the Baroque façade gives dynamism and dramatic breath to the structure. The carved stone doorway bears the date 1741. Inside, among the paintings of some interest, a St. Mary of the Rosary surrounded by fifteen Mysteries painted by a discrete brush of '600, a  Piety from ‘700 and the three paintings of the choir: the Dream of Constantine, the Invention and the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, all from the first half of ‘800. Interesting also a wooden tabernacle with paintings of taste ‘rusticano’ from '500, a carved confessional from 1745 and a box that says "Cash of the City, 1765". The statues of Saints Peter and Paul at the entrance of the presbytery are made of Roman cardboard. Among the vestments stands a silver processional cross, partly gilded, carved and chiselled overhang. It is a superb piece of jewelery of '400-500 style in Bergamo. It is much smaller than the cross from Blello, which is instead much more similar to the richest and most famous one of St. Alexander in Colonna in Bergamo. Also a nice Ambrosian missal in Gothic 1594 is preserved. The organ is a Bossi renovated in 1927 by the firm Cornolti-Piccinelli. The small bell tower is located quite far from the church, separated from it and also from the main street by the churchyard. Its small size compared to the church of the '700 tell us that the previous church was much smaller, while its position seems to suggest that the church used to be closer to the bell itself. On the bell tower it is placed a concert of five bells cast by the firm Angelo Ottolina in 1953 and consecrated by Bishop Giuseppe Piazzi on January 10^th 1954. (Text by Giovanni Salvi)