BERNATE TICINO AND ITS CLERGY HOUSE

The dates

962 – It dates back to this year the oldest written document by which Bernate has been decreed fiefdom of imperial right and passed under the government of the Saxon Emperor’s vassals.
1097 – Contract of sale by which Algeria, born in Bernate, sells to Alberto, priest Castano, the lands of Bernate, except for the castle.
1150 – Crivelli family gets the country of Bernate as fiefdom from Saint Ambrose monastery in Milan.
1186 – (November 26th) Umberto Crivelli, now become Pope Urbano III, turns the castle into a monastery for Augustinian Canons.
1187 – (February 24th) The first group of monks seizes the monastery under the guidance of Corrado, priest in charge, first appointed, they come from Crescenzago monastery.
1498 – Time of great building work and extension, the patronage is given by commander to the marquis Antonio Stanga, Secretary of State of Ludovico il Moro.
1582 – A new church is built under the project of Martino Bassi, works end in 1618.
1772 – The patronage is closed down through a decree issued by the Austrian administration of Maria Theresa.
1784 – The Collegiate Church is established with diocesan clergy.

The news

Pope Urbano III established the patronage over a very old castle. An examination of the constructions and techniques used states that the original building dates back to the Romanesque period.

Sure news about the castle goes back to the beginning of the communal age, but even earlier the village was named “Castrum Brinati” as evidence of its military nature.

During the time when monks lived there, most rooms of the caste were refurbished and adapted to their new request, but the supporting structure remained unchanged.
Also the St.Georg’s church boasts to be fast a thousand years old. The first records about the church go back to before 1097 and it was built over and old chapel located inside the castle (the present crypt).

In the XIII century, a first extension was realized, but when the new church was built in 1582, the oldest part of previous church was preserved and became the sacristy.

The bell tower is the result of different renovations, probably the original tower was contemporary of the old St.Georg’s church. The upper part dates back to the Gothic Period.

The Visconti Palace dates back to the first decade of the XIV century, but it is only the last of several renovations of which some marks can be seen looking at the archivolt on the facade. The Palace was the base of the Chapter.