Votive shrine in via Staffolo on the corner of via Damiano Chiesa

Esenta is one of the largest hamlets in the Lonato area. It is located right next to the border with the province of Mantua and the territory of Castiglione delle Stiviere, a town from which it is less distant than from its capital.
Esenta was born in 1492, as a set of “exenti et immunes” funds, free from taxes and demilitarized, on the border between the Venetian Republic and the Duchy of Mantua. Since 1881 Esenta has also been a parish in its own right, but linked to the Diocese of Brescia.
In this location, in the 1980s, the parish church of Saints Marco and Bernardino was built on the lands of Orazio Gallina, as attested by an epigraph located on the southern side of the church.
The building, oriented to the west, has a rectangular plan ending on the presbytery which is also rectangular.
The tripartite facade is marked by 6 pilaster strips complete with capitals, in Corinthian style and base, and highlights the presence of three naves inside the church. The central part, higher and slightly projecting, stands out thanks to the presence of a mixtilinear pediment. In it there is the entrance portal with a mixtilinear cornice above, two statues housed inside as many niches and a rectangular window. On the sides, corresponding to the side naves, there are two access doors surmounted by rounded lunettes. The bell tower is located on the north side of the building.

(Information on the church taken from BeWeb – Ecclesiastical assets on the web)
(Photograph taken from “Novecento in postcard – dal 1900 al 1950” by M. Rossi)