According to tradition and historical sources, the San Bernardino building complex was built between 1455 and 1465, it was dedicated to the sain from Siena that touched Ivrea in 1418, during itinerant preaching aimed at containing the spread of new heretical ideas. Once the adequate site was fount not far outside of the city, construction started the 14th of September 1455. Building works were finished in 1457, but the church, having only one square nave with cross-shaped vaults, was subject to enlargement works to contain the great influx of followers, which gave the church the shape of a conventual church.
The entire conventual area, passed on to private citizens in 1805, was purchased by the Engineer Camilo Olivetti in 1907 who adapted the structure as his own residence and developed his company in the adjacent land. Between 1955 and 1958, the building complex was involved in important works that modified its appearance, especially the convent, no longer used as a private residence but intended to house the headquarters Olivetti company social services. Restoration works were started in order to bring the church back to 15th century architectural structure and, at the same time, aimed at restoring and preserving the internal paintings.
The church houses one of the most important 15th century testimonies of Piedmont: the painting cycle of the Life and Passion of Christ painted by Gian Martino Spanzotti on the dividing wall of the San Bernardino church, the side that was once reserved to the lay faithful. The work, dated between 1480 and 1490, consists of twenty scenes placed around the great frame of the Crucifixion, of the paintings in the two central pendentives showing the universal judgement and hell, of the two pillars below, painted with images of San Bernardino and of the two side pendentives reproducing the expulsion from the earthly paradise and purgatory.
The Olivetti Spilled’Oro Association receives employees and retired workers of the Olivetti Group that have completed 25 years of work with the company, given a gold pin in remembrance of the gift that the founder Camilo Olivetti gave to his wife when the one-thousandth copy of the first typewriter came out. Among the various cultural activities, it handles opening and visits to the San Bernardino Church.
Culture Department
Ivrea Municipality