Religious Heritage

Church of Saints Pietro and Paolo of Pessano

The village of Pessano which like Paerno, contributed to populating the hamlet of Bollengo, in 1250, quickly disappeared, while the Romanesque church of the hamlet protected by the Cathedral Chapter of Ivrea, has been preserved to this day.

The bell tower is located centrally to the façade, being a clocher porche (bell tower porch); from here the single apsed nave is accessed, divided into two bays by a wide arc; on the walls there are the remains of frescoes …

Church of San Giacomo di Montestrutto

The church is located on a rocky spur next to the Montestrutto castle, it dominates the plane and the town below. The building with a single room, with dating that remains uncertain, for certain aspects reminds of the Maddalena of Burolo (among them bell tower placement next to the facade). The current church still keeps traces of antique frescos that ornate the first part of the internal nave and the original facade, while the rest is a result of a subsequent …

Church of Santo Stefano del Monte

The church of Santo Stefano in Candia was build in the XI or XII century. Along with the duomo and the Fruttuaria abbey, it constitutes one of the main testimonies of Romanesque architecture in the Canavese area.

Placed on the top of hill overlooking the town residential area, in a panoramic position from which it dominates the Canavese Morainic basin, has been subject to significant changes throughout the centuries. The first documental information regarding the …

Ciucarun - The bell tower of San Martino di Paerno

The suggestive bell tower elevates solitary in the middle of Serra d’Ivrea, where the village of Paerno once was.

In 1250 Ivrea founded the fortified village of Bollengo and ordered the populations from Pessano, Paerno and Bagnolo to establish there. The village of Paerno decayed quickly and only the church and the bell tower remained: the first was demolished in 1731, leaving the second as the only evidence of the past.

The “Ciucarun”, as it is called from the …

Madonna di Miralta Sanctuary

The small church, entitled to the Assumpt Virgin Mary, is located on the ridge of the hill with the same name, at the extreme South of the town towards Villareggia, where the first residential settlements took place. There are numerous references, starting from the X Century, to the village of Miralta (or Miralda), feuded by the De Bondoni family and from the XIII Century progressively abandoned by its inhabitants. Today the sanctuary, dating back to the X Century, …

San Bernardino Church

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- …

San Gaudenzio Church

The San Gaudenzio church is on the right bank of the Dora Baltea, beyond the Borghetto district, in an area that was once countryside. When it was built, the small church stood solitary on a small high ground located outside of the Ivrea residential area. It was built between 1716 and 1724, on ruins of a fortification called Castelletto (1705). Superintendence was assigned to the Prevost of the Cathedral don Lorenzo Pinchia and the Municipality, along with the …

San Grato Chapel and Hermitage

Built on the ParajAuta hill, the small church dates back to the XII Century and, initially dedicated to San Giovanni, in the 16th Century it was dedicated to San Grato, invoked during plagues. Originally the only nave was divided into two spans, anther one was added in the XVII Century and the bell tower was built subsequently. Next to the chapel there is a building (hermitage) used until the beginning of the 20th Century by the hermit, who was in charge of …

San Lorenzo Parish Church and Baptistery

The architectural complex of San Lorenzo (VIII-IX Century) is considered one of the most important of Piedmont. The church, with a single arched ceiling room, it has a rectangular apse and two chapels, destined to house sarcophagus, which stick out on the side as a transept. Only during a subsequent period the left arm of the transept and the baptistery were connected using a hallway where two other sarcophaguses are buried. Many frescos, which can be dated to the …

San Michele Arcangelo Church

Of late Roman origin, the church was rebuilt in Romanesque era (XII Century) by inverting its orientation. The naves were separated by quadrangular pillars and the deep apse anded in a semi-circle; the above-elevated presbytery extended along the first bay of the central nave and was accessible through a stone staircase. The building has lived, starting from the fifteenth century, different transformation phases that only spared the bell tower, inserted in the …