Church of Santo Stefano
6950 Tesserete
Telephone +41 (0)91 943 37 73
The church is mentioned in documents from 1078. Its current look is the result of various renovations and reconstructions carried out in the late 18th century. The church was last renovated in 1935. All that is left from the original Romanesque building is the belfry, which now forms the centrepiece of the façade. The bell tower in cut stone has seven storeys each featuring double-arched wall niches of which only the top one is open. Its cone-shaped roof dates from the late Middle Ages. The façade includes a portal with three column sections. To the right, we find a statue of Saint Christopher with remains of Gothic frescoes. The architrave above the right door shows the date 1444 (or 1445), a lunette with the Virgin Mary surrounded by a corona and several pairs of angels. The wide nave whose walls extend into a cross vault features transverse arches in brick and a number of adjacent chapels. The fifth element and the semicircular choir were added during the Baroque period. It is divided by columns bearing the cornice, which in turn carries the barrel vault with the arched windows. The interior of the church is richly decorated. The main altar is in the Neoclassical style and features a small temple baldaquin. The retablo is made in stucco typical for the 18th century. Among the pictures, we find a painting of the Stoning of Saint Stephen dating from the late 16th century. The Renaissance choir stalls by Andrea Caratano from Varese (1568) caters for fourteen singers and are decorated with small columns, sickle-shaped shells and an ornate cut bas-reliefs depicting plants and figurines. The side walls of the choir show two scenes from the life of Saint Stephen surrounded by illusionistic frames dating from ca. 1770 to 1780. There are a number of side chapels along the south of the church (from choir to entrance). The first one houses the organ and is decorated with 18the century "Camajeu" paintings. The second chapel (without altar) features a raised fresco of the Virgin Mary on the Throne (1577). The third chapel is dedicated to the Poor Souls. Its vault includes stuccowork dating from the late 17th century. The stucco retablo includes a fresco of the Crucifixion. The fourth chapel is dedicated to Saint Anthony and has a stuccoed vault (1666). In the fifth chapel, we find frescos from the late Gothic period dating from the second half of the 15th century.
