The church of San Pietro Apostolo in Bosco, also called al Bosco Grande, is in the municipality of Mira: today it falls within the hamlet of Oriago, but its history is that of Gambarare. The name comes from the locality of Bosco Grande, one of the six «quarti», or quarters, of the old municipality of Gambarare. An oratory dedicated to Saint Peter is documented with certainty from 1762, but it is older, as the bell tower of 1587 shows. In 1794 the municipality of Gambarare received it from a private owner so that Masses could be said for the people of the quarter, a populous area thanks to the Piazza del Mercato, where an important weekly market was held. The parish of Gambarare assigned a chaplain to it.
What to see
Of the old church only the sixteenth-century bell tower remains. The building, enlarged in 1823, was demolished in 1958 and rebuilt to a design by the architect Renato Renosto; the patriarch of Venice Giovanni Urbani consecrated the new church on 17 October 1961.
Outside it is plastered white: the façade, topped by three gables, has a portal with a pointed concrete canopy and two tall windows. The interior has a nave and two aisles, separated by concrete pillars carrying a sail-vaulted ceiling; the presbytery has a straight end wall.
Visiting
The church has been an independent parish since 1932. Opening and Mass times should be checked with the parish.
Our editors' tip
The Piazza del Mercato, which made this quarter grow, was the seat of the Venetian Provveditore of the Gambarare; near it the Mocenigo built their villa in the eighteenth century, on the bank of the Naviglio del Brenta.
