In Ghemme, a memorial marble stone positioned at the façade of the ancient Caccioni residence reminds the birth of Antonelli (son of the notary Costanzo, town clerk, and his second wife Angela Bozzi). It was realised under request of the Local Council in occasion of the first anniversary from his death. The bond between the architect and Ghemme had been intense since ever, not only because of his relation to different local families, but also for the great esteem the whole village felt about him (the central square of the village was named after him when Antonelli was still alive).

In Ghemme, on demand of Francesco Stoppani (who was given the nickname “the American” because of the great fortune he had made in New York and who left 15.000 liras will) Antonelli constructed the Scurolo (crypt) dedicated to Beata Panacea, between 1864 and 1857. After an initial project in 1863, the architect considers the possibility of a total reconstruction of the church, the parish residence and of the entire square (April 5, 1864). This new project, which was never realised, included a large pronaos with columns, a square with porches and a hexagonal edifice behind the church’s choir, perhaps a baptistery. The circular Scurolo is open on the left side of the XVII century at the height of the transept by an arch and is accessible through two staircases. From the nave’s centre, high above one can notice the altar, surmounted by a double urn which contains the corpse of Beata Panacea are kept, recalling the attention of the faithful. The twelve columns, disposed in a circular way, create a narrow ambulatory and support the dome, decorated with compressed hexagons and triangles. At the peak, a small skylight illuminates the scurolo’s interior, creating different shadow effects. The sacello ( small area around the altar dedicated to a minor divinity), faces the church, “lifted from the ground like a theatrical scene” (F.Rosso), revealing all its plastic richness and even more exalted by the openwork structure through which the scurolo is connected to the church. The corpse of Panacea is reachable through two stairways which “hug” the altar (the stairways were built in the last century, while originally Antonelli had located them at the rear of the altar). The interior urn, of the seventeenth century, is made of pear-wood, with silver decorations, while the external one is made of golden wood, was designed by don Ercole Marietti. The two white statues representing S. Pietro and S. Paolo, which now are positioned at the end of the entrance stairway, while once were where the two angels are, at the sides of the urn. They would create a contrast with the four, black columns which support the temple, the only remembrance of the Baroque altar.
Above the big entrance arch, one can admire three frescoes, created by Paolo Emilio Morgari, while the idea of the pleading angels depicted on the dome is attributed to Francesco Toni di Auzate. The stuccos are a work of the decorator Achille Scala and the altar of Pietro Rossi (a marble sculptor). The working site was entrusted to Giacomo Calcagni, Antonelli’s assistant also during the works in San Gaudenzio’s dome in Novara. At the end of the works in 1875, the costs reached the amount of 40.000 liras, 400 of which were given to Antonelli for the project. The expenses for board and lodging were sustained by don Felice Rossari, promoter of the creation, and also inventor of the donation celebration, held at the end of the harvest, aiming to collect money to finance the works. Panacea (1368-1383) was born in Quarona. Her father was from Cadarafagno while her mother from Ghemme, brutally assassinated by her stepmother when she was only 15. Panaceas’life is described in the colourful windows created by Pompeo Bertini in 1897. The young shepherdess, virgin and martyr, has always been subjected to great veneration, not only in Novara but also in the area of Valsesia, as it emerges from numerous images that can be seen anywhere (some of the most important ones are visible on the walls of the scurolo). San Rocco church, in Castello square, conserves another work of Antonelli; a procession throne, also requested by Francesco Stoppani. It was curved by the wood-sculptor Francesco Sella (from Valsesia)and gilded by Ravetta from Novara. Even the valuable statue that represents Madonna del Rosario, kept on the altar of the parish church and transported during processions on the throne, is attributed to Sella (1888).