Piazza Buon Consiglio, 4, 23020 Poggiridenti SO
There is something mysterious about this church. It appears quite upwardly ambitious considering its small footprint, its façade is framed by two curious winglike elements, and the road bends around it in unceremonious proximity.
The current road dates only to the middle of the past century, when modernity crept up the valley and also into the villages on the lower mountain slopes, modifying peasant customs that had endured for centuries.
Let us picture this church some time ago, with people coming and going, headed to the fountain to get water, wash clothes, or water their animals, or attracted by the tinsmiths or knife sharpeners offering their services on the parvis. The Cammino mariano helps us with this vision, leading us to the church through the Paradiso vineyards and the contrada Zocca, the most central and populous quarter in town, clustered around the foot of the hill dominated by the church of San Fedele.
The path takes us by a typical fountain with a lavoir, where the wayfarer can find refreshment under the protective gaze of a Madonna and Child frescoed on a nearby façade. A little farther on, where the road narrows and forks, you notice a soot-blackened building with a curious external stairway: it is an old wood-fired oven that was once shared by the locals to bake their bread and is still in use today.
The church was built in the second half of the 18th century, taking the place of a private chapel dedicated to Mary. The work was supported by generous bequests from the Conforto Galli family and attracted artisans from Ticino. The two “wings” on the façade are actually all that remains of the nave, which was demolished in the 19th century to make room for a small piazza. The door frame, dating to 1686, is made of a local stone recovered from the ruined church of San Matteo of Arigna.
The original painting of Our Lady of Good Counsel that once hung on the back wall of the apse was stolen and replaced with a copy in the original wooden frame. Very dear to the locals, the image is replicated on the outside of the church above the door.
There are two statues on corbels on either side of the marble altar. The Sacred Heart, signed and dated 1927, is the work of the Nardini company of Milan. The Madonna Pilgrim, carved in limewood, accompanied a procession in 1949 through all the parishes in the extensive diocese of Como. After being kept for a long time at the seminary, in 1994 it was donated to the Parish of San Fedele.
