CULTURE

Former church of Saint James

An unexpected treasure in Zottier

The former church of Saint James is located in Zottier, in the parish of Mel. .
It was first mentioned in 1497 and was used as a place of worship until 1885. During the First World War, it was occupied by the Austro-Hungarian army; between the two world wars, it was used as a primary school. It later became the headquarters of the ENAL after-work club and was then reduced to a warehouse. In the mid-1990s, during restoration work to convert it into a private residence, interesting fragments of frescoes were discovered along the walls.

On the left wall opposite the entrance door, there is a Last Supper attributed to a Venetian artist from the late 14th or early 15th century.

On the wall where the original altar probably stood, there is a Deposition from the mid-16th century, possibly by Girolamo Dente (1510-1566), identified as Gerolamo di Tiziano.
In 2018, the property was purchased by the “Feudo” Association of Mel with the aim of restoring the important frescoes and transforming the building into a public space for exhibitions, events and cultural presentations.