Baptistery of Sant'Eufemia
Standing in Lenno's quiet Piazza San Stefano, the small octagonal Baptistery of Sant'Eufemia is one of the oldest intact Romanesque buildings on the entire lake — yet most visitors walk straight past it to the ferry dock. Step inside and you'll find 11th-century frescoes, a Roman-era crypt, and a stillness that feels genuinely ancient.
Architecture & History
Built around 1100 on the foundations of an early Christian oratory, the baptistery follows the classic Lombard octagonal plan — eight sides symbolising resurrection — with blind arcading in pale stone and a shallow conical roof. The exterior is modest almost to the point of invisibility, which is precisely why it survives so intact.
The crypt beneath the floor predates the baptistery itself and contains fragments of Roman masonry from a 1st-century villa, a reminder that Lenno (ancient Lemnos) was a prosperous settlement long before the medieval church was built. The stone font at the centre of the crypt is still in situ.
The Frescoes
The interior walls retain traces of Romanesque frescoes depicting the life of St John the Baptist, faded to earth tones of ochre, terracotta and pale blue. They are fragmentary but legible enough to reward a few minutes of patient looking — bring a small torch if you have one, as the interior light is dim.
The adjacent Collegiate Church of Santo Stefano, which shares the same piazza, contains a Romanesque bell tower and a 16th-century altarpiece worth a quick look before or after the baptistery.
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