Point of interest

The church of San Nicola in Assenza was built around the 11th-12th centuries as an expression of the cult of the saintly bishop of Myra, already documented among the chapels of the parish of Malcesine in an act of 1159 by Pope Adrian IV. The appearance of the church must have been very different from what it looks like today: it was lengthened eastwards and, during the 15th century, also westwards, then extended to the south in line with the protrusion of the bell tower. The façade was then renovated in modern times with a window and door in neo-Gothic style. The interior, marked by two 15th-century Gothic arches, is a single nave that narrows at the height of the bell tower into a rectangular choir. Here, there is the high altar and the beautiful 16th-century altarpiece; a second altar, erected in the 18th century in honour of St Francis, is leaning against the south wall. Along the northern wall, a small Romanesque side entrance led to the small adjoining cemetery. The roof of the nave has open trusses, while the choir is covered by a double-cross vault with Gothic sails. The interior walls are decorated with frescoes painted around the end of the 13th century and in 1322.