The elegant church of San Zeno is a little gem on Lake Garda waiting to be discovered. One of the oldest churches on our lake, San Zeno di Bardolino stands inside a private courtyard that takes its name.
San Zeno often goes unnoticed, as it is partly covered by houses, namely our SAN ZENO apartments, and appears rather simple and sober from the outside.
With a Latin cross plan, it is very small overall, with a single nave with barrel vaults, a lantern tower and a slightly raised altar. The original entrance is right at the entrance to the San Zeno apartments.
The date of construction is to be determined during the last years of the 8th or early 9th century, since the chapel is mentioned in a diploma dating back to 807 and was initially a private church belonging to the monks of the Abbey of San Zeno in Verona, who used it as a place of worship. The church was an important landmark for the society of the time, as it was the centre where the rent in kind that the Abbey collected from local farmers was collected and stored.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
It is a Carolingian church that was donated by King Pepin to the Veronese Abbey of San Zeno Maggiore, following the transfer of the saint’s relics. An ancient legend has it that the parish church was built by a master builder from Como, or perhaps from the Po Valley, who, on his way back from Verona, fell victim to brigands. so he prayed to San Zeno and vowed to build a church in his honour. Once he had escaped danger, the church had a chaplain, appointed by the abbot of San Zeno Maggiore, and was endowed with land and a house, under whose portico notarial deeds were drawn up and crops were stored.
Not only did it become a centre for various activities, but it also proved to be a very resistant building: it was probably the only church in Verona to have survived unscathed the violent earthquake that struck Verona and its surroundings on 3 January 1117. Measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale, the earthquake did not even spare monasteries and monuments, including the outer fence of the Arena, of which only the characteristic “wing” remains. In 1530, the church had an income of 32 “bacede” of oil and a value of 200 ducats. In the following centuries, it was converted to secular use, and it was not until 1863 that it was donated back to the Church.
Thanks to restoration work carried out in 1960 by the Superintendency of Monuments, two niches and fragments of several frescoes have been recovered. The niches in the side arms depict a Madonna and Child and Saint Peter, respectively, both with surprisingly bright colours and clear contours; on the apse wall, on the other hand, there is a Christ inside a mandorla supported by two angels.
At the time, San Zeno must have been very colourful, as demonstrated by the still vivid tones of the pictorial decorations that probably covered the entire interior wall.
Added to this are the red marble of six columns, not incorporated into the wall but leaning against it, one of which has an original Roman Ionic capital.
What is most striking is the dual face that the little church offers the observer: on the outside, it almost resembles a fortress due to its severe features; on the inside, however, even though little remains, one can perceive all its ancient vitality and the importance of a place that was certainly precious to the community: a tiny but very welcoming parish church.