The highlight is a twelve-panel polyptych of Saint Devota, signed in 1515 by the Nice painter Ludovico Brea: a late work that has stayed in the church it was designed for. The parish church of Dolceacqua occupies the large square of the old village, where it was rebuilt from scratch in 1471 over what was probably a far older building, and it took its present appearance between 1860 and 1865, when an enlargement gave it the Baroque and classical forms we see now.
What to see
Besides the Brea polyptych, the interior, covered in gilded Baroque stucco, keeps a canvas of Saint Anthony Abbot attributed to Giuseppe Vermiglio and datable to the early seventeenth century, and two side panels of the Mysteries of the Rosary painted in 1582 by the Genoese Bernardo Castello, in the chapel at the end of the left aisle. Three different painters, three different moments: the church simply accumulated them over time, without seeking any harmony.
In the gallery there is an organ by the Agati firm dated 1846. The bell tower has a story of its own: it was created in 1621 by raising one of the towers of the village walls, which explains why its base looks as though it belonged to another building.
Visiting
We are on piazza Padre Giovanni Mauro, on the river side of the village: two flat minutes on foot from the medieval bridge. It is a working parish, in the vicariate of Bordighera and Valle Nervia within the diocese of Ventimiglia-San Remo, so it stays open longer than the other churches, but its hours follow those of mass and change with the season: morning is the safest time. The paintings only read properly with the lights on, and the lights are asked for in the sacristy.
Our editors' tip
Look at the polyptych starting from the side panels rather than the centre: in the minor scenes Brea allows himself details of landscape and costume that he avoids on the main panel. Then leave by the side door, to come out under the tower that became a belfry.