Church of SS. Cristoforo, Quirico e Giulitta

The facade of this church, completely rebuilt in 1543 and subsequently expanded at the beginning of the 17th century and in the first half of the 18th century, is characterized by four slender pilasters with capitals running along the wall and by the high base of the architrave of the tympanum.

The 18th-century bell tower of the Church remains “the bell tower” of Lonigo, reborn after the restoration of the concert of nine bells in 1988/89. On the last three bells, installed at Easter 1989, the images of the patron saints of the old Pieve were engraved: Cristoforo, Quirico, Giulitta, and the saint of great Vicentine devotion, Maria Bertilla. The establishment of a bell-ringing school has created passionate and devoted bell-ringers in Lonigo who make the prestigious bells ring on every occasion. The bell tower of the Old Church characterizes the town’s skyline and is a worthy precursor, in its soaring grace, to the 18th-century harmony that governs the entire church.

The interior space is almost square, punctuated by powerful pillars; ten richly framed windows illuminate the hall. Recent restorations make a visit to this church a survey of 18th-century Veronese painting. The current high altar in neoclassical style replaces the original 17th-century one that bore the altarpiece by Montagna, which is now located above the sacristy door. The Baroque altars of the Pieve are miraculously intact and in their place; every altar we see today had a 17th-century predecessor, from which some elements were used. All are in harmony with each other and with the architectural characteristics of the church.

The first altar on the right is that of San Carlo, where one can admire the altarpiece depicting The Apparition of the Cross to San Carlo Borromeo: against a stormy sky, two angels show a cross, a reliquary where the Holy Nail venerated by the Archbishop of Milan during the plague is kept. The landscape in the background is the village of Lonigo with its Towers, the Bell Tower, the river, and the hill with the Abbey of S. Fermo. The second altar on the right is that of the Rosary, adorned by the canvas by Gaetano Scabari representing The Virgin and Child delivering the rosary to Saint Dominic, depicted here with a large open book in his hand while a dog with a lit torch in its mouth emerges from the corner (in memory of the prophetic dream of the Saint’s mother). Beside the saint is the sweet figure of St. Rose of Lima.