08-07-2026, 07:53 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-07-2026, 11:32 AM by Mark Knowles.)
I have also translated the following from the guide book->
We know nothing about the appearance of the fortifications around the church, also because Barbavara had the old buildings demolished to make way for the new ones, preserving the plan, but characterizing the complex in a modern sense.
The Barbavara family descends from the division of the Da Castello family, which in turn originated from the Counts of Pombia. In the Middle Ages, the Da Castello family, lords of the Ossola Valley, the upper reaches of Lake Maggiore, and part of the Valais, had split, at the beginning of the 13th century, into the Cavalcadeselle, the Monteorfano, the Collapsamonte, the Gattico, and the Barbavara.
The Barbavara family lived on the borders of several municipal territories; therefore, they alternated between Novara and Pavia. They later enjoyed great success in 14th-century Milan, under the duchy of Gian Galeazzo Visconti. Francesco Barbavara, for example, along with his brother Manfredo, became guardians of the duke's two sons upon the duke's death, exercising extensive powers over the duchy.
The tombstone is transcribed in M. Leoni , "La tomba dell’Abate Antonio Barbavara nella Abbazia di San Nazzaro Sesia", in “Bollettino Storico per la provincia di Novara”, lXXvII (1986), pp. 175-184.
In the Papal bull thorough which Barbavara was appointed he was described as «cui de religionis zelo, scientia, vite munditia, honestate, bonorum spiritualum providentia et temporalium circumspectione, aliisque multiplicium virtutuum donis», that is, «known for religious zeal, science, cleanliness of life, honesty, endowed with spiritual gifts and skilled in temporal affairs and with many other virtues».
At sixteen he was appointed commendatory abbot of the abbey, at eighteen regular abbot of the same.
Archivio di Stato di Milano, Fondi Camerali, 2nd March 1461.
Archivio di Stato di Milano, Feudi Camerali, Cart. 553, 1st of December 1479.
We know nothing about the appearance of the fortifications around the church, also because Barbavara had the old buildings demolished to make way for the new ones, preserving the plan, but characterizing the complex in a modern sense.
The Barbavara family descends from the division of the Da Castello family, which in turn originated from the Counts of Pombia. In the Middle Ages, the Da Castello family, lords of the Ossola Valley, the upper reaches of Lake Maggiore, and part of the Valais, had split, at the beginning of the 13th century, into the Cavalcadeselle, the Monteorfano, the Collapsamonte, the Gattico, and the Barbavara.
The Barbavara family lived on the borders of several municipal territories; therefore, they alternated between Novara and Pavia. They later enjoyed great success in 14th-century Milan, under the duchy of Gian Galeazzo Visconti. Francesco Barbavara, for example, along with his brother Manfredo, became guardians of the duke's two sons upon the duke's death, exercising extensive powers over the duchy.
The tombstone is transcribed in M. Leoni , "La tomba dell’Abate Antonio Barbavara nella Abbazia di San Nazzaro Sesia", in “Bollettino Storico per la provincia di Novara”, lXXvII (1986), pp. 175-184.
In the Papal bull thorough which Barbavara was appointed he was described as «cui de religionis zelo, scientia, vite munditia, honestate, bonorum spiritualum providentia et temporalium circumspectione, aliisque multiplicium virtutuum donis», that is, «known for religious zeal, science, cleanliness of life, honesty, endowed with spiritual gifts and skilled in temporal affairs and with many other virtues».
At sixteen he was appointed commendatory abbot of the abbey, at eighteen regular abbot of the same.
Archivio di Stato di Milano, Fondi Camerali, 2nd March 1461.
Archivio di Stato di Milano, Feudi Camerali, Cart. 553, 1st of December 1479.