la chiesa

Gli Asconesi, da sempre fedeli e dediti al culto della Madonna, furono protagonisti di un episodio ricordato ancora oggi e documentato in un atto del notaio Tassi, datato 21 Ottobre 1758.
In quell'anno le terre dei paesi ai piedi del Monte di Mezzo vennero invase e devastate da una miriade di bruchi e nessuna semenza aveva potuto crescere e maturare.
Per rimediare i danni i reggenti di Santo Stefano d'Aveto chiesero un aiuto dalla Chiesa e grazie ad una bolla papale firmata da Papa Clemente XIII venne autorizzato un patrizio e teologo milanese, tale Annibale Besozzi, ad impartire una benedizione apostolica ...affinchè i bruchi fuggissero dal cospetto della Santissima Croce.....
Come scrive il notaio Tassi, il Besozzi ....tenne un sermone sul significato della funzione e poscia con una croce formata di antica e montana quercia benedisse alle quattro parti del mondo. La detta croce baciata da lui e dal popolo fu piantata sul Monte di Mezzo mentre le popolazioni dei quattro villaggi fecero voto di mantenerla in perpetuo...
I bruchi scomparvero e da quel lontano 1758, il giorno seguente le Pentecoste ogni anno gli abitanti di Ascona, Pievetta, Santo Stefano e Torrio si ritrovano sulla cima del monte di Mezzo per rinnovare quell'antica promessa.

THE CHURCH
As seen earlier the first church in Ascona was built at the turn of the XVII century. Before that the inhabitants of the town had to travel to the ancient and neighboring village of Torrio.
The present church of Ascona, dedicated to San Bernardo da Mentone, was constructed thanks to a young parish priest, Father Giuseppe Marrè, who started work on the church and rectory after his arrival in 1827, completing it in 1837. Also of that period is the cemetery built along the nearby road that once conducted to Santo Stefan and Torrio.
The only one of its kind in the whole valley shaped like a Greek cross, the church was to have been consecrated as a Sanctuary due to the massive influx of pilgrims during the more sacred festivities. Today this is still manifest on the occasion of the feast dedicated to the Madonna Addolorata that is held every third Sunday of September.

THE INVASION OF THE CATERPILLARS
The people of Ascona, faithful and dedicated to the worship of the Virgin, were protagonists in an episode that is still remembered today and recorded in a document written by the Notary Tassi, dated the 21st of October 1758.
In that year the lands at the foot of the Monte di Mezzo were invaded by hordes of caterpillars and none of the seeds that were planted were able to grow and mature. To remedy the damage, the regents of Santo Stefano d’Aveto asked for help from the Church and thanks to a papal document signed by Pope Clement XIII, Annibale Besozzi, a patrician and theologist from Milan,was authorised to impart an apostolic blessing …. "so that the caterpillars would flee at the sight of the Holy Cross".
As recorded by Notary Tassi, Besozzi … "held a sermon on the meaning of the function and then with a cross made of old mountain oak, blessed the four corners of the world". The above mentioned cross, kissed by him and the local populace, was then erected on the Monte di Mezzo while the inhabitants of the four villages vowed to maintain it for eternity.
The caterpillars vanished and since 1758, each year, the day after Pentecost, the inhabitants of the four villages, Ascona, Pievetta, Santo Stefano and Torrio meet at the top of the mountain to renew that ancient promise.