Italy Trip

HAVE returned from a long weekend spent in the north Italian town of Lesa on Lake Maggiore.

Opposite my hotel was a church dedicated to San Rocco (the literal translation is Saint Rock, but his name is usually rendered in English as Roch).

He was born in Montpellier, in what is now south France, in the late-13th or early-14th century, when the city was part of the Aragonese empire.
Roch's father was apparently the city's governor, but died when the future saint was 19.
According to the Golden Legend, Roch distributed his wealth among the poor, joined the Franciscans and went on pilgrimage to Rome.
He worked tirelessly among plague victims, before falling ill and withdrawing into a forest to recover.
While returning to Montpellier, Roch was allegedly arrested by his uncle, accused of being a spy, and imprisoned in a dungeon for five years, until he died aged about 30.
Wikipedia states that Roch is "patron saint of dogs, invalids, falsely accused people, bachelors, and several other things."

The church in Solcio on the outskirts of Lesa

The church was built in the 1820s by trader Felice Borroni, who made his fortune in the Netherlands before retiring to his native Italy.
The bell tower was added in the 1930s, replacing a smaller one, and interior decorations have also been changed over the decades.