The Church of San Barnaba, Pollone, Biella

The first news dates back to 1606, when the parish priest of Pollone Don Agostino Ferraris built an oratory on this highland called "Monte del Castellazzo". An inscription on the altar shows that it was rebuilt by the community, following a public vote in 1662, to invoke protection against storms or thanks for being escaped from plague. It was devoted to the Madonna della Neve, San Barnaba, San Bernardo and San Grato. With this reconstruction in 1662 the oratory became municipal property, as it is to our day. From 1675 to 1692 the oratory was finished in its construction as we see it now and it is certain that from 1675 there was a Hermit who had his home here. The Hermits took care of the oratory until the middle of the 1800s and in 1884 the town of Pollone set up a lazaret for the prevention of cholera which had occurred in France but was never used. With the end of the war in 1924, the Pollonians collected the offerings to build the Remembrance Park on the hill. The forty cypress churches were planted, equal to the number of the Fallen in War, and on the first pillar of the façade was a bronze plate with an engraving on the Victory Bulletin (of these cypresses there are only four). The wear of time and the acts of vandalism forced the Bishop to close the church, but he was never disenchanted. Since 1952 the restoration work was completed, completed in 1935, the year in which the painter Nina Antinori Tavallini decorated the wall of the presbytery with three frescoes: in the center the Madonna and Child reminds the Madonna della Neve; at the sides of San Barnaba and San Bernardo. At the end of the work was restored the home of the Hermitage, which was assigned to a family of Pollone who lived for over forty years, devoting himself to the guarding of the oratory. The last restoration work with the collaboration of the Regional Superintendence ended in 2000 and the inauguration took place on 5 November during the anniversary of Victory. From the hillock you can admire the Biella mountains. Mount Mombarone, Monte Mucrone and Monte Camino, the hills of Monferrato, Serra, Monviso and the hill of the Burcina Park. The oratory is finally celebrated as it was the subject of works by the pollen painter Lorenzo Delleani.

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