Oratorio di San Rocco

piazza San Rocco - 15057 Tortona (AL)
https://www.cittaecattedrali.it/it/bces/39-oratorio-di-san-rocco-tortona

St. Roch’s Oratory was built by the "Confraternity of Mercy" which is mentioned for the first time in a document of 1534. The task of this Confraternity was to assist prisoners and those sentenced to death: the brothers had to go to the prison on the three days preceding the execution to give them assistance and support, and on the day established they accompanied them to the execution site and took care of their burial.
Their primitive premises was at Saint Stephen’s abbey church, which no longer exists; later, around 1586, they transferred to the St. Michael’s parish Church. As time passed, however, living together became difficult and so the brothers decided to build their own oratory.
The works began in 1622, and in 1626 the oratory dedicated to Saints Roch and Sebastian began to be officiated. The men in charge of the construction work were from Lugano, but the brothers were also required to give a hand free of charge. Despite this, the works continued at length due to financial
problems.
The facade was terminated in 1725, arranged on two orders: the lower part is characterised by a three-arched portico, topped by a lunette window at the sides of which, inside two niches, were two putti with their arms uplifted holding a shell on their heads. A triangular fronton terminates the facade. Internally, the church, with a single nave terminating in a semi-circular apse, presents rich typically Baroque ornamentation.
A balustrade in polychrome marble separates the nave from the presbytery, slightly elevated. The high altar, inlaid in marble of various shades, was commissioned to a family of Lombard "marble workers”, the Giudici in 1754 and the works were completed in 1757,
The vaults of the oratory were decorated in 1936 by two fresco painters from Tortona, Domenico Fossati and Pietro Mietta.