Hebrew-English Guide to Soncino

45 THE CHURCHES The bell tower, with a square plan, shows windows with one or two lights, a conical spire with the statue of Saint Mary of the Assump- tion, modern work by Antonio Ferrarotti which replaces the original one by Carlo Riva, designed by Carlo Maciachini and ruined by a lightning in 1952. The inside part, in Neo-Gothic style, has got solemn shapes with a polychrome decoration, painted at the end of the XIX century. The dome is decorated with a big Theophany, preceded by the pro- tector saints of Soncino, Martino and Paolo. Above the old baptismal font we can admire a beautiful fresco of the beginning of the XVI century that shows the Holy Trinity. The old iconography of the painting with the three figures, absolu- tely equal, obliged the ecclesiastical authority, during the period of the Counter-Reformation, to cover the image, reappeared in 1843. Even though there are no certain clues, the fresco should be work of a painter from Soncino, maybe Alberto Scanzi or his son Fran- cesco. Beautiful are also the confessionals, of walnut root, executed in 1771.