Feast of Madonna of Caravaggio: 26 May
Feast of St. Saviour: 6 August
In Travagola the church was built around 1516 and rebuilt in the last century. It preserves a canvas by Giovanni d'Antona. With the chapel dedicated to the cult of the Madonna del Caravaggio, Travagola is one of the most important marian centres in the area of Feltre and Belluno. Here is kept a painting by Francesco Frigimelica on the theme of the Transfiguration. The parish headed to Ss. Saviour was founded in 1950. (source from the network)
Going from Pedavena towards the Canalet, arrived on the bump that leads to the square of Travagola appears in beautiful sight, illuminated by the sun, the church of Travagola, that seems to have been built in 1516, 500 years ago. Very suggestive is to reach it along a short tree-lined avenue that shows its total beauty in every season. A low wall embraces the church dedicated to S. Saviour, the rectory and the small war memorial
The facade, made by Marchioro, simple in its lines, consists of four pilasters that support the triangular tympanum; between the two central pilasters, joined by a lowered arch, there is the main entrance surmounted by the bishop’s coat of arms; higher up there are three false windows that close in a round arc while a false rose window is inside the triangle of the tympanum. There are two chapels and the side doors, and the tower bell is dated further back.
The interior of not extensive dimensions consists of a single nave, closed at the top by a lowered vault from which hangs a majestic chandelier; important is also the holy water of 1641. To divide the space for the faithful from the apse, a triumphal arch preserves traces of fresco decorations where you can still read part of the body of St. Sebastian pierced by an arrow, painting older than the decorations above. The original stone floor joins the nave to the raised apse.
In the apse there is the high altar with two precious painted wooden statues depicting St. Peter and St. Paul, recently restored. Corinthian columns joined by an arch anticipate the vision of the altarpiece with the Transfiguration: Jesus 40 days before the Crucifixion between Elijah and Moses, that is the Law and the Prophets, and below the Apostles Peter, James and John. The characters are arranged symmetrically with respect to the figure of Christ and highlight a formal rigor combined with a communicative clarity; the faces of the characters are treated realistically to look like portraits strongly characterized. It is an important work attributed to Frigimelica, a painter who was active in Feltre in 1596 and protagonist of the renewal of art in Belluno.
The chapel of St. Anthony of Padua, on the left, has a particular history that deserves to be reported in the chronicle of the parish. In the summer of 1783 an epidemic of cattle began from Pren to Villapaiera, and it was hypothesized that it had been imported with some steers from abroad. He then hit Pedavena and Sega. More inclement was Facen, so much so that from December 20 to March 1st 1784 the village with the adjacent was strictly isolated. More than 70 animals died, and in that particularly snowy winter one can imagine what the state of the poor segregated people might be. The Magistrate of the Health sent 10 Schiavoni soldiers, maintained by the locals, to ensure with the discipline the strict prohibition of movement to the point that even the pastor could go to Facen only for extreme cases.
Travagnola and surroundings were not affected. In thanks for the escaped danger the parishioners decided to build a new altar, which is on the left of the nave, dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua, and commissioned Giovanni D'Antona an oil painting following a vote.
The painter Giovanni D'Antona (son of Nicolò and Anna Maria Marsiai) was a pupil of Girolamo Turro. He did not paint by trade, just for pleasure. He did not attend an Academy and this limited him; he remained always in the Feltre area, staying in Lamen.
His ancient wealthy family, known since 1512, also had possessions in Pedavena; the coat of arms had even been assigned by the Emperor of Austria. Until the fall of the Republic of Venice it had only one branch, because only the older brother could contract marriage, a method to maintain prosperity.
Giovanni D'Antona impressed a lot of feeling in the paintings on religious subjects that constituted the majority of his production, and with landscapes taken from the local reality, some of which are still visible. Important, in addition to the views of Feltre, portraits. According to Mons. Vecellio, D'Antona was also an excellent copyist, so much so as to deceive in 1797 a French officer who examined valuable works to be "removed" in France. One night he replaced a masterpiece of Turro that was present in the church of the Angels with a copy that he himself had made previously, saving the original.
In the ex voto painting of Travagola, the painter highlighted the dating of the epidemic: 1783-FOR VOTE IN THE NEXT ANIMAL INFECTION. He painted the Madonna del Carmelo and the Child Jesus showing the scapulars (a sign of salvation, protection and support) between St. Anthony of Padua (with the lily) and Blessed Bernardino di Feltre (with three mountains, symbols of the 'Monti di Pietà', an institution he founded). At the bottom, a winged little angel with its eyes turned upwards sits on a step. To place the characters in the environment, the painter used as a background the illusion of an apse basin preceded by two columns.
The completed altar was blessed in 1789.
Of 1894 is the other chapel dedicated to the Madonna of Caravaggio.
Previous ancient apparitions of the Virgin in Caravaggio (Bergamo) and in Pinè (Pergine Valsugana-Trento), places of pilgrimages, convinced to open also in Travagola a Marian Sanctuary that over time has become a destination of devotion.
The structure of the chapel repeats in the general lines that of the left. Inside, in a niche, we can see the two wooden sculptures all around, that is three-dimensional, the Madonna in an upright position that appears to the peasant kneeling.
The adjacent wall hosts many votive offerings; in 1989 the cultural association "Antonio Vecellio" organized an exhibition in the church of S. Anna in Pedavena and exposed them. On that occasion the census was made: there were 85 small squares of different nature of popular handicrafts, 17 metallic hearts, various objects of more or less precious metal, necklaces and crutches. These traditional materials are still in use and are not affected by new technologies, such as computers or mobile phones.
Often we find elsewhere wooden tablets made by amateur or naive painters that represent in a simple way the scene of the event for which we thank.
In the church is not currently visible a banner painted on both sides, which was carried in processions and also ex vote offered by the people for 250 Lire Venete. In 1855 a very devastating cholera epidemic was fortunately not very active in the area. It was chosen to depict on one side the same image of the picture of D'Antona, on the other S. Rocco and S. Sebastiano venerated as protectors from contagious diseases. The painter in charge was Bruna Lot of Feltre, an excellent reproducer of the works of the great masters of the past.
The church of Travagola houses, therefore, both popular votive and high culture as the paintings of painters D'Antona and Bruna Lot.
