Oratorio Palù dei Mori

The Palù dei Mori court dates back to 1500, the residence of the Spolverini counts. We do not have a certain date for the construction of the oratory dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua, but it is definitely from the XVII century. In 1729, Ferdinando Spolverini sold the complex to Matteo Moro, who undertook reclamation works of the marshy areas of his lands and enhanced the oratory with new furnishings. It was Matteo's son, Don Marco Antonio, who commissioned the valuable stuccos that make the church a rare example of Baroque art on the eastern shore of Lake Garda. Upon the death of Don Marco Antonio in 1801, having no descendants, the ownership of Palù passed to his nieces, daughters of his sisters, both married to Bortolazzi. The Bortolazzi family maintained ownership until the 1970s. The oratory, abandoned to neglect, with a collapsed roof, fell into ruin.

In 2000, the cultural association Francesco Fontana promoted the restoration; they published a volume on the history of the court and the oratory to make the state of abandonment public; in 2014, all those entitled donated the ownership of the oratory to the Municipality of Lazise, which took care of the restoration.

The stuccos represent the most precious aspect of the oratory. Upon entering, the raised altar dominates the hall; at the center, the frame once enclosed the painting of the Madonna of the Rosary with Saints Anthony of Padua and Dominic Guzman. In the roundel of the altar front, the Penitent Magdalene is depicted. On either side of the altar, the ovals of the overdoors represent the Annunciation and the Resurrection. To the left of the entrance, the oval above the window recalls the Ecstasy of Saint Francis. Still in the hall, the large plastic scene represents the Death of Saint Joseph.

The three ovals of the sacristy depict Veronica, Saint John the Baptist, and Saint Lucia. The composition of cherubs and putti with a radiating pattern and the dove of the Holy Spirit adorned a chest of drawers in the sacristy.

The oratory is located 3 km from Lazise, on the road to Colà, and can be visited every second and fourth Saturday of the month.