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Visit the Church Santa Maria delle Grazie in Gravedona, Lake Como.
In 1467, both the church and the Augustinian convent (nowadays turned into a library) were built in a dominant position over the village, on the same place where once there was the Church of Saint Salvatore.
The Convent started a number of relationships with the other strict Augustinian Convent in Lombardy and by the end of the 15th century and the first decades of the following century he became an important referring point just like the Benedictine Abbey of Piona.
In 1474, Galeazzo Sforza financially contributed to the building of the convent which had a difficult start. At the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, built in 1467, the Augustinian Monks had to practise hospitality as they were ordered by Pope Paul 2nd with a Papal Bull.
As a matter of facts, from a document dated 1471, we come to know that the convent received a particular legacy of money to build a “Foresteria” that is to say Guest Quarters, run by the Convent, although it is not known if the Guest House was built inside or outside the convent, in a building that can be identified in a still existing edifice at the nowadays n. 5 via Dosi and Segna (not far from the ancient Via Regina), where, above the marble arche of the doorway is sculptured the coat of arms of Saint Bernardino, a Saint linked with the Augustinian Order of Preachers. However, at that time, the building set on Dosi Street was inside the 15th century walls of the village, while the convent was set outside them; Moreover, after careful examination of the rooms of the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie it was recognized that there were two separate and different kitchen rooms. So, it could be deduced that the two kitchens had a different function: one for the monks, the other for foreigners. What is certain is that after the 15th century, even in Gravedona there was a resting place for travelers run by monks.
However, in the eighteenth century, the convent was suppressed by Empress Maria Teresa of Austria, but the church remained consecrated and is still in use today. From an Architectural point of view, the church follows the widespread pattern at a unique nave marked by transversal arches. It has three apses - the central one with a sail-ceiling – which close the wide internal back space. The iconographic plan of the church is meant for celebrating the glorification of the Augustinian Order and the doctrine of Jesus’ Incarnation and the Assumption. The church has two portals framed with Musso marble; the lunette above the portal on the façade bears a sixteenth-century fresco depicting the Virgin between Saints Augustine and Saint Nicolas from Tolentino.
Inside, the under-arches and the front of the gables are frescoed with some busts of Prophets, Augustinian Saints, while the last under-arch, the closest to the altar, is painted with the busts of the Scholars of the Church. On the wall of the presbytery there is the fresco of Our Lady of Assumption between two saints (Saint Simeon and St. John the Baptist) dated 1496. In the second chapel to the right, on the inside of the pillar, there is a very famous fresco within the village: the Madonna Del Cifulet. This is a picture of the Virgin with the Child, depicted as he casts out a small demon, who in the village language called the Cifulet.
The fresco has a symbolic value with the demon representing the evils of the world; although, it also maybe an allegory of Protestantism that the Graubünden tried to spread on the Lario area, but above all, village moms have always used the figure of the Cifulet to frighten their too lively children. This chapel dates back to 1509 and was commissioned by the Stampa family. The cloister maintained the original plan despite the subdivision and modification of use..
