Inside Santo Stefano Church, Menaggio

A Living Parish Church

The Church of Santo Stefano stands at the heart of Menaggio, its origins reaching back to early Christian and Romanesque buildings. Rebuilt in the seventeenth century, its interior opens into three graceful aisles beneath a luminous vault.

Frescoes and Sacred Treasures

In 1899 the painter Luigi Tagliaferri covered the walls with elaborate frescoes. The church guards a silver processional cross of 1539 and paintings from the 1500s and 1600s, including a copy of Bernardino Luini's Madonna with Child and an Angel.

Architecture and Bell Tower

A slender nineteenth-century bell tower rises beside the nave, while a marble high altar and carved choir stalls anchor the solemn sanctuary at the end of the aisle.

Menaggio on Lake Como

Set on the western shore of Lake Como, Menaggio is a picturesque resort town of lakeside promenades and stone lanes, with this church among its most cherished landmarks.