The church dedicated to Santa Maria della Misericordia (the Merciful Virgin) was consecrated on 23 October 1442. The architecture presents as a simple hall, covered by a coffered ceiling, closed to the east by a square choir with crossed vault and to the west by a gabled façade, opened by a portal, in whose lunette the image of the Madonna della Misericordia is painted. Along the walls of the nave, two altars open out which are dedicated respectively to the Madonna della Quercia (Madonna of the Oak) to the left and to the Vergine del Rosario (Virgin of the Rosary) to the right. The San Carlo Borromeo altar was created in 1610, the year of the canonisation of the Archbishop of Milan.

There are some canvasses dedicated to the life of San Carlo Borromeo on the walls of the nave. Three canvasses are by Pietro Francesco Pancaldi-Mola (1739-1780); one depicting San Carlo distributing alms to the poor, one showing the Saint visiting the plague-stricken, and a final painting, located at the bottom of the church representing San Carlo which indicates to the architect the place in which the Collegio Papio was located. The magnificent polyptych by Giovanni Antonio De La Gaia of 1519 is preserved on the larger altar. The polyptych is divided into two panels: the upper panel, where there is a painting of the Assumption of the Virgin surrounded by angels with the stunned Apostles at her feet; on the lower panel, the Merciful Virgin is painted between the Saints Domenico and Pietro Martire.

As well as the splendid frescoes of the choir – the most ancient – the church houses other wall paintings along the nave and on the triumphal arch. This vast series of paintings reflects both courtly Gothic art, and the popular art of the second half of the 1400s, and that of the wandering painters from the Alpine foothills who were active between 1450 and the first decades of the 1500s. The beautiful cycle of wall paintings of the choir illustrates some stories from the Old and New Testaments. On the wall to the left sixty-six panels dedicated to the Old Testament are depicted.

The stylistic delicacy and the richness in the detail make these frescoes one of the most interesting examples of courtly Gothic art preserved in Ticino. The recovery of these frescoes concluded in 2002. On the opposite walls, on the other hand, there are thirty-six panels dedicated to the life and passion of Christ, painted by a second workshop of wandering painters. The wall at the end houses the image of a Crucifixion and above it a picture of the Madonna della Misericordia, with the Saints Pietro and Paolo by her side. Within the segments of the vault, the Padri della Chiesa Latina (Fathers of the Latin Church), the image of Christ surrounded by the four Evangelists, and San Pietro, San Materno and San Fabiano are found. The latter are two saints which are particularly venerated in Ascona.

Access:
All the year

Price:
Free