Costa - Saints Ermacora and Fortunato Alpine Church

Saints Ermacora and Fortunato Alpine Church is situated halfway up the right side of the Chiarò Valley. According to legend, Saint Ermacora took refuge here during the persecutions against Christians in Aquileia and, before departing, left a neophyte to guard the shrine and continue spreading Christianity. Costa village was under the jurisdiction of the counts of Soffumbergo, who in 1356 received the relics of the two saints from Patriarch Nicolò of Luxembourg to be kept here. The church was built by the lords of Soffumbergo in the second half of the 15th century specifically to house the relics.
The building features an elegant atrium with cylindrical columns and a low parapet. At the top of the façade, there is a single-light bell tower window. The entrance door, framed in stone and molded, leads to a single nave with exposed beams. The presbytery is square, with a triumphal arch lower than the nave and a cross-vaulted ceiling covered with a pavilion roof. The white marble altar bears the inscription: "Opus Michele Fariothus an. MDCCLVII." The small altarpiece depicting Saints Ermacora, Fortunato, and Biagio praying before the Madonna is attributed to an unknown 19th-century artisan, possibly Adeodato Pariotti. Of significant value is the stone holy water stoup with basin on a column pedestal, inscribed with the date 1712.