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Tourist Info San Candido
Piazza del Magistrato 1
I-39038 San Candido (BZ)
Alta Pusteria - South Tyrol - Dolomites - Italy
Phone: 0039 0474 913149
Fax: 0039 0474 913677
E-Mail: info@sancandido.info
San Nicolò Parish Church
Visiting times:
The church is only accessible during mass celebrations.
The newest part of the village from a settlement point of view is located on a gigantic scree. Only the church, which usually provides the centre of the village, is located on a panoramic hill. The parish was devoted to the patron of water St. Nicholas. This saint was often chosen in villages prone to overflowing by raging rivers (ancient German winnen = raging).
In 1507 the Prato Drava parish church was first mentioned in a document within the framework of consecration. The traditional rectangular floor-plan of proto-Romanic construction was transformed and renovated in Gothic style around1500. The elegant construction with ogive windows and portal has maintained all its Gothic charm, including the floor-plan, the section with support pilaster and pilaster strips , the triumphal art and the polygonal choir stall.
Unfortunately in 1821, the vaults were stripped of their ribs, and only a Coronation of Mary and a representation of the legend of St. Nicholas (approx. 1505) are all that remain of the original frescoes in the Church of Prato Drava. The epitaph of the Klettenhammer family with its architectonic frame dates back to the 17th century. The altars, pulpit and confession boxes that date back to the early 19th century exemplify a unified and extremely rustic Baroque style.
The statue of S. Silvestro on the left side altar dates back to the late 15th century, but it does not even belong to the church's original furnishings at all, since it was located in the Chapel of Valle S. Silvestro at the pasture until 1786. Around 1900, a copy had been made for this chapel, but a few years ago this copy was stolen and has never been found since.
A steep path with the Stations of the Cross and four wayside shrines leads to the church hill. The wooden statues in these wayside shrines realised in rustic, realistic Baroque style show scenes from the Passion of Christ: The Mount of Olives, the Flagellation, the Crowning with Thorns, Jesus carrying the Cross; the Crucifixion group located in the graveyard is also of the same genre and period (1700 circa).
The Loreto Chapel
Visiting times:
daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Just like the innkeeper Georg Paprion from San Candido, also the innkeeper Johann Klettenhammer from Prato Drava, was a zealous pilgrim. Both lived around the same time, and like the outer church realised by Paprion, the Loreto Chapel realised by Klettenhammer also provides a testimony to Baroque devotion.
The town of Loreto in Italy was a popular destination for pilgrims even in the 17th century, since drawings and paintings of its Chapel of Mercy can be found everywhere in Tyrol. According to an old legend, angels carried the house of the Holy Family of Nazareth to Terrsatto (Istria), and to Loreto afterwards. Still in the 19th century, the 10th of December was still a farmer's bank holiday.
Johann Klettenhammr brought back a copy of the miraculous image from his pilgrimage to Loreto, and constructed a chapel in the style and shape of the Chapel of Mercy - the Loreto Chapel - beside his house. The chapel was consecrated in 1650. The chapel was struck by detritus carried by the flooding of the two rivers, the Mittereggerbach and the Mühlbach several times - the last time in 1965. For the inhabitants it was a miracle, that the chapel had never been destroyed by these miseries: hence, the Loreto Chapel became more and more of a destination for pilgrims. The fresco on the outside wall depicts the legendary transport of the house of the Sacred mother by angels to Loreto.
San Silvestro Chapel
Visiting times:
daily from mid June to end of September
This sanctuary is located on the highest point of the Valle S. Silvestro Valley. According to archaeologists this was a prehistoric bastion. It is also possible, that S. Silvestro Chapel was built on an ancient sacrificial site used by the pre-German shepherds in the area. The chapel was build around 1150 and extended around 1440. In 1441 it was newly consecrated, and issued an indulgence in by Cardinal Nikolaus Cusanus of Bressanone in 1455.
This construction with its bell tower inserted alongside the facade is picturesquely embedded in the middle of a vast meadow. The proto-Romanic church construction technique has been preserved. The pictorial cycle, the work of the Bressanone Painter's School and perhaps even "Meister von Klerant" himself, was painted between 1450 and 1460. Images of S. Peter and Paul, Ingenuino and Albuin appear on the inside of the vault of the choir stall, while angels bearing the Sacred Shroud are shown on its rear. The apse and the window vaults are completely covered by frescoes.
In 1786, Emperor Joseph II had the church de-consecrated, and it was deserted. In 1898, the chapel was restored, and the painter Alfons Siber from Hall, not only restored the frescoes but even completed the missing parts with amazing skill: to the extent that the restorers working in 1986 could often not tell the difference between the original layer of painting and the parts added by Siber.
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