Parish Church of San Giacomo Maggiore

Site overview

The Baroque parish church of San Giacomo, set in an elevated position overlooking the village, has become the symbol of the town.

The large building was begun in 1771 to a design by Mario Ludovico Quarini, a pupil of Guarini and one of the greatest architects of the late Piedmontese Baroque. The great vault was completed in 1811. Although the façade is preceded by a Neoclassical pronaos, it bears unmistakably Baroque touches, and the spirit of the entire complex is decidedly Baroque.

The interior of the church comprises a vast longitudinal central nave flanked by a multitude of secondary spaces, together with a presbytery-choir covered by a Guarinian dome. The rectangular Latin-cross nave, whose four arms open on their four sides from the centre, gives rise to two side chapels and the connecting passages to the churchyard and the presbytery. The numerous windows, valued also for their decorative effect, fill the entire church with light.

The interior is decorated with frescoes by Fea and Rocco Manedi and with fine stuccowork. Notable features include the carved pulpit, an 18th-century wooden statue of St Joseph by Stefano Clemente, and a good canvas by an unknown 18th-century painter depicting St James, placed behind the high altar.

The dome reproduces on a smaller scale the structure of San Lorenzo in Turin. From the broad churchyard, the view extends across the entire village, the peaks of the Alps, and the plain, all the way to the hills of Turin.