The Church of San Giuseppe (St Joseph) in Luino is one of the oldest religious building in the town, and is first mentioned in a written text in 1398.
The church is thus presumed to have medieval origins, and according to excavations made in 1969, may be datable to the 7th century. It was rebuilt in the 11th century on the foundations of the earlier building.
The vestry with its porch was added at the end of the 15th century, as was the chapel dedicated to the Virgin, which contains the tomb of the Blessed Jacopino, a friar from Luino famous for what were considered miraculous intercessions, while he was alive and after his death. The bell tower is an original example of the Como-Lombard Romanesque style. The restoration work of 1969 uncovered a pre-Romanesque apse.
Some of the frescoes in the church are attributed to the local artist Bernardino Luini. Among these is the fresco of Jacopino, the Carmelite friar from Luino, placed between the frescoes of St Joseph and the Holy Virgin, and the fresco of the “Adoration of the Magi”, probably dating from 1505.