Rebuilt in the 11th century with larger dimensions on the pre-existing small church of San Carpoforo, the church of San Vincenzo is oriented towards the east with an entrance door surmounted by an architrave with a lunette with unique features in Romanesque art. The door is placed in the centre of the northern side and on its right shoulder is a part of an early medieval dedicatory plaque on which, in corroded but heavily engraved characters, one can read the Germanic name Robertus and the final invocation Venturus es Futurs es., while the rest of the engraving is indecipherable.
The finely squared stone structure of the southern wall can be attributed to the pre-existing church, where various reclaimed materials were used. Outside the side door, in what used to be a small cemetery, there is a tomb arch made of sloping stone in the Capuchin style, which, according to ancient tradition, is connected to the small church of San Carpoforo. During restoration work in the 20th century, an additional engraved slab dated 1489 came to light. In the centre of the apse is an arched window unusual in Romanesque architecture. The Torre complex, with a papal bull, in 1121 became part of the substantial possessions of the Benedictine monastery of San Paolo d’Argon, under the jurisdiction of first the Cluniac Prior and then the Cassinese Abbot.
For this reason, the church of San Vincenzo, as the church of the Torre community, was replaced by that of San Cassiano, which is also located not far away and isolated in the middle of the fields. San Cassiano reduced to ruins as early as the 16th century, was adapted as a Santella in the following century. The back wall on the west side of the church of San Vincenzo, completely rebuilt in the mid-14th century, has a circular opening with a contour of shaped bricks and river pebbles arranged in a fishbone pattern. It appears that an arch, possibly the entrance to a masonry enclosure, was attached to this wall to the south. Some restoration work was carried out around 1550, while in 1575, first the presbytery was frescoed, then a bell was put in and finally, the cattle cemetery was secured with a fence.
The interior, with a single nave, is divided by arches into three bays with an exposed wooden beam roof and ends with the presbytery. Under the rose window is the altarpiece depicting the Coronation of Mary donated by the monastery of San Paolo in 1780. In 1797, after the suppression of the monasteries by order of Napoleon, the oratory first became the property of the hospital of Bergamo, which inherited the property from the Cassinesi of San Paolo d’Argon, and later private property.
Text by Luisa Gaiardelli and Carlo Pinessi.
