Soiano del Lago

The parish Church

The parish Church of Soiano del Lago is dedicated to Saint Michele Arcangelo and it was built from 1622. It is said that it had been built on a pre-existed ancient chapel, used during the military settlement of the castle. We think about this origin both for the proximity with the castle and for the dedication to the Saint warrior Michele, to whom the Longobards, who ruled in this area from 569 to 774 d.c, were particularly devoted. The Saint is illustrated on the front of the chapel in a little and ancient low relief ­too much consumed - and also in the major altarpiece. 

The church was embellished during the 1600 and in the later centuries, and it was completely restored in 1926 with many increases of Liberty art. In general, the structure still has its seventeenth century scansion with three chapels on each side and the large apsidal space. The altar on the right side, during the time, was replaced with a side entrance, and on the top of it there is a monumental organ. 

The pictorial adornments of the ceiling and of the apse, polychrome glass windows, the paving, the wooden statues of the altars date back to the last restoration, that happened in the first postwar period. Looking at the most remarkable decoration or statue in the church, we can find :

• the Altar dedicated to Saint Rosario, it’s the first entering on the right side. This devotion was already present in the old parish church and was kept in the new one in 1600 too and it was erected in memory of the victory in Lepanto over the Turks. The decoration is in plaster with floral motif and the statues of the Saints Caterina da Siena and Domenico date back to 1700 and they are remarkable thanks to expressiveness and quality;
• the organ was realized in Verona in 1693 by the organ-maker Carlo Ridolfi. The wooden structure, richly decorated with green and gold, dates back to 1700. The organ is still functioning; 
• the apse is dominated by the Major Altar, which dates back to 1790. It has two candelabra and in the middle there is the monumental tabernacle in the shape of a small temple and two statues on the top. 
• the altarpiece represents the Blessed Virgin in adoration of the Divine Infant with Saints Michele Arcangelo and Sebastiano. The portrayal has traditionally been attributed to the painter Andrea Bertanza, an artist who was active around Lake Garda in the first two decades of the 17th century; but Monica Ibsen links the painting to Giovanni Antonio Caroto's works of the early sixteenth century. Looking with attention at the painting we can see two increases at the bottom to adapt it to the size of the structure. 
• we finish the visit looking at the third Altar on the right side, that includes the most precious and celebratory painting of the Church: the Altar of the Annunciation, with the marvelous painting of the Genoese painter Bernardo Strozzi, known as the Genoese Priest, dates back to the first years of 1600. We can underline the influence exercised by Tintoretto during the venetian period of Strozzi. The altar was commissioned and offered by the rich Venetian family Carminati, who had extended properties in Valtenesi and a sumptuous villa in Soiano. The Carminati's offered in 1652 the saint relics of Saint Albano Martire, co-protector of Soiano, visible in the shrine on the bottom of the altar. The gilded wooden altarpiece is also a typical example of high-quality 17th century Brescian woodcarving.