The building of this church started in 1594, when the Town Council, the bishop of Adria and Saint Frances’ Friar Minors took this common decision: their aim was to build a proper place where to keep an image of the Virgin, which was believed to have performed several miracles, including, in particular, the liberation of Rovigo from the plague.
This image had been painted in an oratory nearby, close to the eastern city walls, in the area of the Franciscan convent. Having completed the building, the image was moved to the altar of the new church (8th September 1608).
The building, designed by Francesco Zamberlan, consists of an octagonal prism externally surrounded by a portico; originally, on top of it there used to be a dome of inner diameter 22 metres, but it had to be demolished because it was unsafe, and was replaced by a pyramidal cover; this was supposed to be temporary, but it has never been modified anymore. The portico loft was used as a reserve cereal warehouse, stocked there in case of famine, not an unusual event until the middle of the 19th century.
After placing the majestic altar and the choir, in 1625 the interior of the church started to be decorated with sculptures and, in particular, paintings on canvas, arranged in three rows; the last “telero” (large canvas) was added in 1684, thus completing a celebrative and decorative cycle which can be defined as one of the most impressive in the region Veneto.
Starting from 1655, a bell-tower started being built beside the church, designed by Baldassarre Longhena; however, its building was suspended several times and it was only completed in 1774, fully respecting the original drawings.
In the 19th century, the church underwent some restoration works, including the remaking of the ceiling (400 square metres approximately), which was frescoed by Vittorio E. Bressanin in 1887.
The architecture of this building evokes the theme of churches dedicated to the Virgin which, from the Renaissance on, have often been circular in shape, although with a wide variety of different formal solutions. The bell-tower (perhaps the most beautiful in the whole of Polesine) proves that even this type of buildings may be very lavish, while respecting, however, a certain classical tidiness.
In the interior, the majestic golden wood altar strikes the eye; made by Rovigo artist Giovanni Caracchio, its well-achieved combination of architecture and sculpture extols the widely worshiped little fresco of the Blessed Virgin of Relief.
A certainly peculiar detail of the church is the pictorial decoration of the interior, where 22 large canvases (360 x 430 cm, approximately) are located in a lower row and an upper one. They celebrate an equal number of Venetian podestàs (city mayors in the Middle Ages). Several of these paintings were made by some of the greatest artists who worked in the region Veneto in that period: Francesco Mafferi, Pietro Liberi, Pietro Ricchi, Andrea Celesti, Pietro della Vecchia and Antonio Zanchi. The fact that the church was built with decisive financial support by the Town Council and some minor centres of the surrounding area led people to consider the holy building as a suitable place to celebrate political power as well (which was not clearly separate from religious one at that time).
In the lower row, pictures celebrating podestàs alternate with 8 smaller paintings portraying some episodes from the life of the Virgin: two of these are by Francesco Maffei, one is attributed to Giovanni Coli and Filippo Gherardi.
In the decorative row in the middle, the statues of Christ Resurrected, the Virgin, the Apostles and the Evangelists, along with the protectors of Rovigo, are alternated with 20 canvases portraying miracles attributed to the intercession of the Virgin of Relief.
Starting from the first half of the 19th century, the area under the portico has become a civic epigraphic museum, since epigraphs and monuments coming particularly from churches and convents abolished or transformed due to laws passed during the Napoleonic age have been walled there.
“La Rotonda” or “round church” (as the church of the Blessed Virgin of Relief is commonly called) is first of all a Christian Catholic place of worship, however it does not belong to the diocese of Adria-Rovigo, but to the Municipality of Rovigo, due to a decree of the Senate of Venice dated 1764.
The Municipality entrusted its management to a “Council” whose mandate lasts for three years. For the 2008-2010 period, the Council members are professor Claudio Garbato (chairman) and architect Leda Bonaguro, engineer Franco Pozzato, solicitor Damiana Stocco and professor Leobaldo Traniello.
For celebrating religious services on Sundays or working days, the bishop of the diocese appoints a “rector”; at the moment, this is Monsignor Daniele Peretto.
The daily maintenance of the church is taken care of by a sacristan, Mr. Paolo Marcon who, if necessary, may be replaced by Mr. Giovanni Dilavanzo.
URL: http://www.smppolesine.it /rotonda /eng_pagine /home.php | Last update: 22 September 2009 03:28:44