The church is dedicated to St. Grata, co-patron saint of Bergamo, and is the original burial place of the saint’s body, which was buried here until the year 1,000, then moved to the other church of the same name located on Arena Street, within the city walls.
Originating in the 14th century, the building was destroyed two centuries later to make way for the Venetian Walls; it was then completely rebuilt in the 18th century.
If you are wondering what “inter vites” means?
You need to know that the building stood in a countryside, right in a place used for the cultivation of vineyards, which in the eighteenth century, however, already no longer existed.
Opposite the church you can see the imposing St. Gotthard’s Staircase, named after the complex at the end of the climb that housed a monastery suppressed in 1798.
Inside, however, you will find the cycle of canvases.
Scenes of Living Skeletons by 19th-century artist Paolo Vincenzo Bonomini.
This was an unprejudiced work for the time, because the skeletons closely resembled real people who lived in the village: from the carpenter to the two friars at prayer, from the country couple to the bourgeois bride and groom, to the drummer of the Cisalpine Republic and even himself with his consort.