Oratorio di San Rocco

The San Rocco Oratory is the most significant monument present in Casalnoceto. It has recently undergone careful restoration work by the Confraternity of SS Trinity who is also its owner. The building, created from the southwest corner of the Visconti fort built in the last quarter of the 14th century, retains its original structural characteristics almost intact with an apsidal part in correspondence of the angular tower and a main body which develops in a mostly triangular shape. The apse is raised in relation to the street level as there is a small circular vaulted crypt which occupies the site of the tower and, which, accessible only from the outside, has never been used for worship but always as a deposit. On the opposite side of the apse, a wide vault supports the large choir which is accessed by a steep lateral staircase that connects to the interior of the church. In this way, the interior space of the church is on three floors of a triangular highly original construction The use of this construction for worship purposes has been documented since1535 but recently discovered and restored decorations would document an even earlier use. The exterior of the building presents numerous elements that recall the military use of the building. There are numerous embrasures underlined by stone elements. On the north-eastern corner at the end of the last century there was a building used to offer “hospitality" to pilgrims and those who needed the assistance of the Confraternity of San Rocco titular of the Church. The bell tower was erected in the 19th century after the suppression, by the Napoleonic Government, of the cloistered Monastery in front. It belonged to the Discalced Carmelites who had opposed the height of the small bell tower for over a century to avoid being seen beyond the boundary wall of the monastery. The three bells date back to 1880. Until the 1960s the two protector saints, San Rocco and San Sebastiano, were clearly frescoed one on each side of a large window which opens onto the northwest facade to illuminate the choir. Now the effigies have been irremediably lost. The Lagozzo canal, which once lapped the walls of the fort, now flows around the Church of San Rocco. The interior of the church, rich in furnishings, presents the altar in stone, a significant architectural element, with the altar table supported by a base which presents sculpted floral motifs and clearly recalls a late Roman Sarcophagus.