Chiesa Parrocchiale di Genestrerio

The parish church of Genestrerio was built from 1651 to 1689 on the site of the old (probably 15th-century) church that faced east and of which remain the fresco of the Madonna del Latte (by an unknown author), the polyptych (also by an unknown author dated 1545, with the crucifixion, St. Bernard, St. Anthony, the flight into Egypt, the adoration of the shepherds and that of the Three Kings), the front of the facade that can be seen externally facing west.

In the eighteenth century the interior decoration was carried out to which many of the region's leading craftsmen and artists contributed with the laying of the balustrades in Arzo marble and black marble from Varenna, the stuccoes and frescoes of the vault and nave. Unfortunately, part of the stucco work by Giovanni Antonio Maggi and part of the frescoes by Giovan Battista Bagutti fell during the devastating fire of August 23, 1987, in which the 17th-century Serassi organ that had been brought to Genestrerio in 1811 from an unspecified church in Milan was completely destroyed.

Other important eighteenth-century works are the sculptures and stuccoes in the Chapel of the Madonna (by Giorgio Roncati in 1711), the Chapel of the Crucifix (by Giuseppe Casanova in 1758) and the Baraini Chapel ( by Albino Carabelli in 1741) in which there is also Giovan Maria Livio's canvas with St. Carlo in front of the Holy Family, canvases by an unknown author (probably brought by emigrants) with the Crucifixion and St. Philip Neri, as well as the wood and glass compass built internally around the entrance door in 1795.

In the 19th century, there were interventions by architect Luigi Fontana, who designed the floors and pulpit (1842), the outer churchyard (1853), and the apse (1858), inside of which is Antonio Rinaldi's 'fresco with the Triumph of St. Anthony executed in 1862. Also in the apse is the painted terracotta statue of St. Abbondio, the work of Agostino Silva that arrived in Genestrerio in 1689 as a statue of St. Anthony and was replaced in 1861 with the present wooden statue of St. Anthony by sculptor Valentino Bianchi.

The frescoes in the two eighteenth-century cornices of the presbytery are the work of Silvio Gilardi, who painted them in 1904 (the one on the left with St. Charles giving communion to St. Louis) and 1925 (the one on the right with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane).
Also from the twentieth century are the interventions of Mario Botta, who designed the new parish house in 1962 (because the old one was demolished when the cantonal road was widened), in 1969 the new sacristy with the connecting portico and in 1999 the new facade, built in 2002 and completed with a bronze portal by sculptor Selim Abdullah made in 2008.

For all of these important works briefly mentioned here, the Genestrerio Parish Church is listed on both the cantonal and federal cultural heritage lists.