San Michele Arcangelo is the parish church of Cameri, the one locals call the gesa granda. The first mention of a chapel here, of medieval origin, goes back to about 1100; that building was pulled down at the end of the sixteenth century to make way for the new parish church, built between 1583 and 1591.
What to see
The stepped front faces south and is divided by a string course into two orders, both marked out by pilasters and half-columns. Below is the main doorway, crowned by a semicircular tympanum, with the side doorways beside it; above are a window and two niches with statues, and then the triangular pediment, which opens a third niche with an image at its centre. The bell tower stands a few metres from the church: square base, cornices dividing it into several orders, a single-light window on each side of the belfry and a dome resting on a semicircular drum.
Visiting
What you see today is the result of two building campaigns. The church was remodelled in the eighteenth century, then rebuilt between 1845 and 1852 to a design by the engineer Michele Mazzucchelli, and in that same 1852 it was consecrated. The bell tower, however, is older than that work: after the previous unsafe one was demolished, the new tower was completed in 1827.
Our editors' tip
One detail explains the bond between church and town better than many pages: in 1618 the tower was recorded as holding three bells for religious use and a fourth for civil use, which served to summon the people of Cameri to assemblies. The same tower served the parish and the community, and each had its own peal.