La Chiesa della Beata Vergine della Fossetta
Alfonso Gonzaga, Count of Novellara 1637
This church is dedicated to La Beata Vergine della Fossetta (The Blessed Virgin of the Hollow*) and is a destination of numerous pilgrimages.
*fossetta translates to dimple but may refer to a small ditch or a hollow if it comes from fosso meaning a ditch.
In 1564 Count Alfonso Gonzaga I of Novellara built a small chapel with an image painted by Lelio Orsi. It was located north of the fortress La Rocca, facing the bridge that joins a ring road to Campagnola. In the first half of the 17th century, the chapel was enlarged with the addition of a portico.
In 1654 a new church was constructed following a design by architect G.B. Negri, also of Novellara, and dedicated to Our Lady of Fossetta on land donated by Lady Barbara Gonzaga with a structure similar to Chiesa del Gesù in Bologna.
The floorplan is a Greek cross with central dome and an upper dome supported by four pillars. New interventions were carried out in 1784 and the clock was placed in 1821 after the facade was restored and partly raised. The old 16th century chapel was torn down and in its place a memorial pillar was erected.
The building has an elegant feature, divided by the sequence of lights in portico, and framed by pilasters.
The facade is broken up into niches with paintings and statues of saints.
The bell tower stands at a little distance on the west side and is surmounted by a cell trifore.
Behind the altar there is a fresco of the Blessed Virgin of Fossetta painted, according to tradition, by Lelio Orsi in 1564 (see below).
Since its foundation, the Sanctuary, because of the presence of the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is considered miraculous and is the destination of many pilgrimages.
With thanks to: https://turismo.comune.re.it/en/novellara/discover-the-area/art-and-culture/abbeys-monasteries-sanctuaries/beata-vergine-della-fossetta-sanctuary
*fossetta translates to dimple but may refer to a small ditch or a hollow if it comes from fosso meaning a ditch.
In 1564 Count Alfonso Gonzaga I of Novellara built a small chapel with an image painted by Lelio Orsi. It was located north of the fortress La Rocca, facing the bridge that joins a ring road to Campagnola. In the first half of the 17th century, the chapel was enlarged with the addition of a portico.
In 1654 a new church was constructed following a design by architect G.B. Negri, also of Novellara, and dedicated to Our Lady of Fossetta on land donated by Lady Barbara Gonzaga with a structure similar to Chiesa del Gesù in Bologna.
The floorplan is a Greek cross with central dome and an upper dome supported by four pillars. New interventions were carried out in 1784 and the clock was placed in 1821 after the facade was restored and partly raised. The old 16th century chapel was torn down and in its place a memorial pillar was erected.
The building has an elegant feature, divided by the sequence of lights in portico, and framed by pilasters.
The facade is broken up into niches with paintings and statues of saints.
The bell tower stands at a little distance on the west side and is surmounted by a cell trifore.
Behind the altar there is a fresco of the Blessed Virgin of Fossetta painted, according to tradition, by Lelio Orsi in 1564 (see below).
Since its foundation, the Sanctuary, because of the presence of the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is considered miraculous and is the destination of many pilgrimages.
With thanks to: https://turismo.comune.re.it/en/novellara/discover-the-area/art-and-culture/abbeys-monasteries-sanctuaries/beata-vergine-della-fossetta-sanctuary
Lelio Orsi - 1511-1587 Novellara
Below is the fresco attributed to Lelio Orsi situated in La Chiesa della Beate Vergine della Fossetta.
Lelio Orsi - Supposed self portrait - 17th century
Lelio Orsi - also known as Lelio da Novellara - was certainly one of the most refined and complex protagonists of the second phase of Mannerism, "in architecture magno, in pictura maiori et in delineamentis optimo", as cited on his tombstone located in the Church of Santo Stefano in Novellara.
(Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it. Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century. Wikipedia)
Born in 1511 at Novellara , Lelio Orsi spent his early childhood in the culturally refined and challenging court of the Gonzaga family (his father was Captain of the door of Novellara Castle). His artistic apprenticeship was certainly influenced by frequent trips and stays in Mantova, home to the largest Gonzaga lordship, where among other things he could see the work of Giulio Romano. He worked in Novellara Castle (La Rocca) and probably on the design of Casino di Sopra. In a document dated 1530 he was already called "master."
In 1533 he painted a frieze in the presbytery of Querciola Castle, the first known pictorial testimony in the Reggio Emilia area, where he created a number of works (paintings such as the frequency of the external clock tower in Piazza del Duomo); he had to flee in 1546 because he was wrongly accused of complicity in a murder (his innocence of the offence was then recognized six years later). Welcomed and protected in his native Novellara, Orsi would remain for the next forty years as the court artist of Gonzaga.
1563 was the year of the beginning of an intense building and painting in the small capital Gonzaga, a true "genius loci", Orsi worked assiduously in all the edifices built by Gonzaga, as architect and painter. The Novellara Renaissance unmistakably bears his mark: he elaborated the design of the old town centre, he designed Santo Stefano Church, the second floor and loggia of the Fortress (La Rocca) and some houses in Novellara. On several occasions he continued to work in Reggio Emilia, up to the mid-eighties.
He died at home May 3, 1587.
His drawings and paintings are now scattered in major museums around the world. In Novellara remain his architectural works, the friezes and the pictorial cycle of the Casino di Sopra (now in the Museum Gonzaga).
(Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it. Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century. Wikipedia)
Born in 1511 at Novellara , Lelio Orsi spent his early childhood in the culturally refined and challenging court of the Gonzaga family (his father was Captain of the door of Novellara Castle). His artistic apprenticeship was certainly influenced by frequent trips and stays in Mantova, home to the largest Gonzaga lordship, where among other things he could see the work of Giulio Romano. He worked in Novellara Castle (La Rocca) and probably on the design of Casino di Sopra. In a document dated 1530 he was already called "master."
In 1533 he painted a frieze in the presbytery of Querciola Castle, the first known pictorial testimony in the Reggio Emilia area, where he created a number of works (paintings such as the frequency of the external clock tower in Piazza del Duomo); he had to flee in 1546 because he was wrongly accused of complicity in a murder (his innocence of the offence was then recognized six years later). Welcomed and protected in his native Novellara, Orsi would remain for the next forty years as the court artist of Gonzaga.
1563 was the year of the beginning of an intense building and painting in the small capital Gonzaga, a true "genius loci", Orsi worked assiduously in all the edifices built by Gonzaga, as architect and painter. The Novellara Renaissance unmistakably bears his mark: he elaborated the design of the old town centre, he designed Santo Stefano Church, the second floor and loggia of the Fortress (La Rocca) and some houses in Novellara. On several occasions he continued to work in Reggio Emilia, up to the mid-eighties.
He died at home May 3, 1587.
His drawings and paintings are now scattered in major museums around the world. In Novellara remain his architectural works, the friezes and the pictorial cycle of the Casino di Sopra (now in the Museum Gonzaga).
This little battered, broken and bedraggled statuette is worthless but is a dear and valued possession given by her aunt to Susanna in 1974 as a memento of her first visit to Novellara after 22 years' absence.
It represents the Madonna and Child as depicted in the fresco by Lelio Orsi and is made of terra cotta and hand-painted. When gifted, was already quite old and battered. |
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With thanks to https://medjugorjedinovellara.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/b-v-della-fossetta-novellara-re/
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