  From Porto Ceresio to Brusimpiano. From Porto Ceresio we continue in the direction of
Brusimpiano, following the shoreline of the lake. This route will constantly
run along the frontier between Italy and Switzerland up to Luino: in
this tract of road it is the lake which delimits the separation between
the two countries. Over the centuries, instead, the populations which
lived along its shores saw this more as an element of union rather than
separation. In fact, it was by way of lake traffic that it was possible
to exchange goods, allowing people to more easily move from one point
to another, rather than going by land (with its rocky and steep shoreline
covered by woodland). A reason for conflict, if anything, was the fishing
on the lake,the main form of earnings and indeed of food
for many families.
As soon as one arrives in Brusimpiano - just outside,
in fact, in the locality called Brusimpiccolo - we come across the Church
of San Martino, the oldest of the local churches. The dedication would
allow us to think of the existence of a former church of Longobard origin
(although not confirmed by any document). The existence of the Church
of San Martino is instead confirmed in the middle of the XIII century.
Towards the close of the sixteenth century the old chapel was rebuilt
and enlarged. This did not satisfy the rigour on the part of Carlo
Borromeo (1538-1584), cwho on the occasion of a pastoral
visit ordered the construction of the Church of Santa Maria Nascente
in the baroque style and which can be visited in the centre of this
small town. |
