Church of Our Lady Assunta (Rapallo)

The Church of Our Lady Assunta It is a place of Catholic worship located in the hamlet of Santa Maria del Campo in the municipality of Rapallo, in the metropolitan city of Genoa. The church is home to the parish of the same name of the Vicariate of Rapallo-San Margherita Ligure of the diocese of Chiavari.

The first quotes of the church of Santa Maria del Campo dating back to the year 1000, even if the official quote of the first parish priest, Don Gandolfo Merlo, is dated to a document of 1201. According to local historical sources, the Campese parish community reached in 1570 his maximum “spiritual” extension with the parish priest Don Stefano Borzese when he had the pastoral guide on the centers – today hamlets of the Municipality of Rapallo – of San Pietro di Novella, Sant’Andrea of ​​Foggia and San Quirico d’Assereto.

The primitive church underwent the first but substantial changes of the structure during the seventeenth century, above all to adapt the ancient building to the increasingly increasing of the Campese population. The works, which lasted about ten years, saw the abolition of the ancient choir that was moved to the opposite side, the total renovation of the facade, the opening of a new major door and an entire expansion.

In 1826, on the occasion of the pastoral visit of the Archbishop of Genoa Monsignor Luigi Lambruschini, the parish was elevated to the title of Previous. Less than a hundred years later, in 1920, the large staircase was built which, from the road, still allows you to go up to the square.

In 1957 the first six bells were installed in the bell tower, with the blessing of the Bishop of Chiavari Monsignor Francesco Marchesani, and still in 1959 with the provision of other six bells inaugurated by the bishop of the diocese of Guastalla Monsignor Angelo Zambarbieri; The electronic system of the twelve bells will be built in 1964.

Other restoration interventions were carried out between 1970 and 1978 on paintings, stuccos, chandeliers, floor and outside with the renovation of the white facade, the roof and the bell tower.

On June 9, 2010 a vast fire ^[first] He affected the rectory of the church with damage to the roofs, the facade and the premises of the same; The damage, caused according to some reliefs from a short circuit, destroyed several sacred furnishings and the roof more. After a timely restoration and restoration intervention, the premises have returned again accessible since 12 August 2010 ^[2] .

The structure presents itself as a single nave with the presence of four lateral altars as well as the greatest one. The first, located on the right side of the church, is named after the Madonna di Caravaggio and is a marble work of 1807; The second altar is dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows and according to the historical sources belonged to a previous and suppressed Church of Genoa; The third is named after the Blessed Rosary, while the fourth is dedicated to the Crucifix.

Precisely in the latter – which together with that of the Blessed Rosary was purchased in 1807, together with the prestigious floor, by the monastery of the Visitation of Genoa – the relics of Santa Flora di Beaulieu brought from Rome in 1824 by the then parish priest are preserved Campese Cavagnaro.

• Hyanylofti’s bar, History of Rapallo and the people of the Tigullio , Genoa, Liguria – Edizioni Sabatelli, 1983.
• Pietro New, Rapallo over the centuries , Rapallo, Edizioni hypotheses, 1979.
• Maria Angela Bacigalupo, Cultural and religious itineraries in Tigullio: historical research and documents , 1999.
• Gianni Macchiavello; Luca Peccerillo, Santa Maria del Campo , Rapallo, Officine Grafiche Canessa, 2005.