On the facade stand the statues of St. Peter the Apostle and St. John the Baptist, owners of the church and the confraternity housed there, represented according to traditional canons. The interior is rather large, with a deep apse and six side chapels. The nineteenth-century organ by Bernasconi, an organ builder from Varese, is on display at the entrance door.
The first altar on the right, entering the church, is the altar of St. Bartholomew; “the painting represents St. Francis of Paola, St. Bartholomew, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Vincent Ferreri and the blessed Alessandro Sauli. It was painted by Ferdinando Pozzo”.
The second is the altar of St. Charles, or of Suffrage. The canvas, by Guglielmo Caccia, represents St. Charles interceding for the plague victims, followed by the altar of the Carmine, surmounted by another painting by Guglielmo Caccia, The Madonna del Carmine with St. Simon Stock and St. John the Baptist; the presence of St. John the Baptist is evidently linked to the confraternity that had its seat in the church of St. Anthony the Abbot. The angelic figures and the delicate colours of the sky are remarkable.
Going down, on the left side, from the apse towards the entrance, we find the altar of the Most Holy Crucifix or of Our Lady of Sorrows, characterized by a group of statues: at the foot of the Cross of Jesus, are Mary his mother and St. John the Evangelist, according to the story of the Passion according to John himself.
The next altar, of St. Anne, is adorned with a painting by Orsola Caccia, depicting the Madonna and Child with St. Anne . At the top we see two very pretty little angels musicians. In the centre, the very delicate family scene is composed according to a very precise geometry, characterised by the intersection of the diagonals, which underlines the intersection of the glances. At the base, we admire the
roses, pink, white, red.
The painting above the altar of St. Agatha is also by Orsola Caccia. There are represented the Liberated Saints, Agatha and Lucy, while from heaven the angels are holding the palms of martyrdom and the crowns of glory.
Between 1739 and 1756, members of the Solari family, craftsmen from Val d’Intelvi, in the Comasco area, applied to the altars of St. Anthony the Abbot’s altars were paliotti made of scagliola (a compound of plaster, glue, pigment and marble powder): among a decoration of ribbons, flowers and birds, an icon stands out, different from altar to altar. At the high altar, where the tabernacle of the Blessed Sacrament is located, we have the monstrance, which dominates two hilly landscapes, identifiable as follows
probably with Moncalvo.
