Oratorio di San Rocco

The Oratory, located next to the parish church, dominates Piazza Sprea, creating a harmonious symbiosis between nature, space, and architecture.

Its front facade tells a story, thanks to its architectural elements, of a past harmony, partly altered by renovations. The rectangular portal and the two large side windows stand out on the façade, while the portal is made of Vicenza stone and features a strong architrave. At its ends, there are two projecting brackets ending with spirals, which create an open sacred surface where a sacred reference was meant to be placed. In the center above the portal, the bifora window is divided by an elegant column with a capital, all supported by a stone ledge. The upper part and the roof are the result of later expansions, all inscribed in a stone-framed tympanum, which is not aligned with the remaining structure. Corresponding to the left side of the façade, there is an edicule with a two-sloped roof, open with a full arch, where a small bell was housed.

The interior plan is rectangular and reflects the changes it has undergone both as a religious building and as a civil residential space. Remnants of the original architecture of an early medieval church remain, including parts of the foundations and the semicircular shape of the apse, still visible today in the differing color of the floor. Following this temple, a building was constructed, identifiable on the ground by parts made of cobblestones and stones.

In this church, from the recovery of the side walls and the plasters, a few pictorial fragments have emerged, such as the beautiful fresco depicting Saint Cristoforo. The Saint holds the crozier, a staff, a sprout of the new faith, and supports the Child Jesus on his right shoulder. The Child is small in proportion to the figures; he extends one arm toward the Saint, symbolizing the safety of the pilgrim traveler.

The flooring was meant to be simple, typical of these places of meditation, made with local pebbles and stones.
Here, too, there is an intervention involving truncation. The edge of the arch leading to the demolished apse is visible on the east wall.

In the 15th century, the oratory underwent significant changes to many of its structural parts and flooring due to the construction of a furnace for melting bronze for bells. Its layout, compared to the current perimeter, was central. The circular furnace was supported by a wooden structure, with vertical supports, forming a kind of cup, lined on the walls with clay and plant materials. Once used, it was destroyed. A short distance from the furnace, the concave plate of the crucible with the channel for transporting molten bronze and the matrix of a bell were found. Most likely, during these melting operations, the church had no roof and became a workshop for metallurgy. Nearby, among the sand and silt, a silver coin was found dating between 1453 and 1457, attributed to Doge Foscari.

It is during this period that the triumphal arch was filled in and the altar was moved inside the church, to its current perimeter.

In the second half of the 1700s, the church was no longer a sacred place but was used for civil purposes. It was during this period that the large fireplace was hollowed from the east wall and a circular basin, similar to a well for collecting water, was created. Its function is still unclear: whether it served humans and work activities or animals as shelter or sustenance.

In the 18th century, there were further changes closely linked to the renewal that the Church implemented after the Council of Trent. The embellishment with marble altars and brighter openings, such as those made along the southwest wall, are examples of this.
The church's function for worship continued even between the end of the 19th and the 20th century, becoming a specific reference for the religious and social life of the village, through rituals, processions, and fairs, like that of Saint Rocco in August.

After World War II, the Oratory was sold to private individuals. Inside, spaces and partitions suitable for a civil dwelling were constructed.

The restorations that brought the Oratory of San Rocco back to architectural renewal and its current function as a space for culture and music were completed in 2009.