Oratorio San Rocco

In 1476, the Confraternity of St Roch purchased a building in which to hold the meetings of the chapter. In 1525, work began on the present-day building, composed of two large halls, one above the other, which received the Bishop's blessing in 1542. In 1697, the altar-piece showing The Virgin and the Saints, by Alessandro Maganza, was placed on the altar in the lower hall.
    An inside staircase leads to the upper hall, at least partly frescoed (decoration began in 1559) and enriched by the large altar frontal, in stucco, by Tiziano Minio, showing St. Roch and two saints.
    After long negotiations with the State, in 1925 the Oratory became the property of the City of Padova, which contributed to the expenses necessary for restorations, carried out between 1926 and 1929. The plaster of the façade was repaired, and that of the western wall was removed.
    Inside the Oratory, the ceiling and vaults had to be refaced in cement. The painter Luigi  Cherubini reproduced the original decoration. The beams supporting the ceiling of the lower hall were also repaired, a new floor was laid down, and the walls were reinforced.
    A later series of restorations, in response to the urgent need for repairs, was carried out in 1950. On that occasion, about 20 square metres of frescoes to the right of the altar were detached, cleaned, and set back in place.
    Other partial repair operations in the 1960s and 1970s failed to solve the general situation of deterioration of the frescoes. The latest work was finished in 1993.