Overview
The Church of Barbassolo in the municipality of Roncoferraro in the province of Mantua, dedicated to the martyred Saints Cosmas and Damian, is also known as Pieve di Barbassolo or Pieve dei due pozzi or Santuario della Salute.
The origins of the parish are very old, as evidenced by the documents kept in the parish archive, which date back to 1660. The church, in the Romantic style, may have been built around the year 1000, as some extensions and alterations were found, such as the 18th-century presbytery with its niches, which were later removed. Numerous restorations have been undertaken in recent years in order to restore it to its original style and to strengthen the structure.
Today, the Romanesque parish church of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Barbassolo is a place of meditation, simple yet attractive to many. Of particular note is the altarpiece, an 18th-century painting of appreciable quality, which could illustrate part of the history of the parish. This altarpiece depicts Our Lady of Mount Carmel accompanied by two Carmelite saints and the patron saints Cosmas and Damian. This juxtaposition, coupled with the tradition of the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel as a local feast day, has led one to think that for a time there was a community of Carmelites who introduced the devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, while maintaining the patron saints Saints Cosmas and Damian.
