Edicola di San Carlo Borromeo, Busto Arsizio

The shrine of St. Charles Borromeo is a votive capital located in Busto Arsizio, on Via Giacomo Matteotti, originally called contrada Pessina, near the Canavesi-Bossi house. It stands where once there was probably a public well and a monastery, now demolished, in a crucial location, as the street was a passageway for processions from the churches of Santa Maria and San Giovanni to the church of San Michele Arcangelo.

The construction of the shrine dates back to the mid-17th century, a few years after the death of St. Charles, to whom the citizens of Busto Arsizio were particularly devoted. It is a small temple consisting of three cross-vaulted arches supported by four columns resting on stone plinths. The back wall is shared with the house to which the aedicule is leaning and probably originally shared with it the tile roofing, now replaced with a four-sloped copper slab. In the center of the chapel is a statue depicting the saint dating from 1892, when it was placed here during restoration work to replace an older pictorial work that was lost. The statue holds its left hand raised to grip the crosier, which has been lost.

The statue of St. Charles Borromeo is made of finely worked plaster, so much so that the laces on the robe appear to be made of real cloth. Behind the statue are faces of angels, also made of plaster, surrounding the saint. Closing the aedicule is an 18th-century wrought-iron gate. The marble altar placed in front of the statue would also belong to the same period.