Oratory of San Nicola da Tolentino: what to see and tips

The Oratory of San Nicola da Tolentino is a small chapel in Vicenza, plain outside and Baroque inside: its walls and ceiling are entirely covered with 17th-century Venetian canvases, nearly all devoted to the life and miracles of the saint.

The highlight is the ceiling by Giulio Carpioni, eleven canvases set among rich Baroque stuccoes, with Saint Nicholas rising to heaven in the center. On the altar is the Trinity by Francesco Maffei, painted in his full maturity; next to it hangs one of his early works, from 1626, when he was 21.

The confraternity commissioned the canvases bit by bit, as the funds were raised. When the ceiling was raised, the Annunciation above the altar was partly cut off. The 1678 facade bears the eight-pointed star, the symbol of Saint Nicholas.