Around the year 1000 the Benedictine monks founded at Casterno, on a hill overlooking the valley, the
monastery of "S.Ambrogio ad nemus" i.e. the wood with the annexed church of Santa Maria and San
Martino of Casterno. The church of Santa Maria was of very ancient origins; it was more times rebuilt
and sacked and some remains can still be seen at the entrance of the hamlet of Carpenzago.
The church of San Martino, instead, collapsed without leaving any track. According to oral tradition it
stood perhaps where today we find the Church of the Carmine called "Gesa del boia" i.e. the church of
the devil, because it contains a statue of Saint Bernard with a black little demon bound to the chain.
The goods of the monastery passed in the XV century to the nobles Pietrasanta and after to the “Padri
Carmelitani scalzi” of the Congregation of Mantua, who rebuilt the present temple in 1671. These
friars did not always behave well, but remained in possession of the monastery until 1780, the year in
which this was suppressed by order of Joseph II emperor of Austria and the buildings, now profaned,
became property of the peasant families of the place.
The stable is now a mere wreck and just the
facade has been preserved.
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