Santa Maria Maddalena (Italian : Holy Mary Magdalen) is a late-Baroque style, Roman Catholic church located at Vittorio Emanuele #19 in the town of Alba in the province of Cuneo in the region of Piedmont, Italy. The church was designed by the prominent Piedmontese architect Bernardo Vittone, and completed in 1749.
The church was commissioned from the architect Vittone by the Conte Carlo Giacinto della Rovere. It was built at the site of a chapel built in 1442 by an order of Dominican nuns attached to the Blessed Margaret of Savoy.
The brick facade remains unfinished, but the pattern of concave and convex strips is characteristic of late-baroque architecture. On the portal are three carved arrows, a symbol of Margherita.
The plain exterior does not resemble the refined and colorful interior. The portal are immediately leads to a generally-rectangular nave area, surrounded by elegant corinthian columns, with an oval dome. The dome frescoes depict the Exaltation of the Blessed Margherita of Savoy, painted 1747-1750 by Michele Antonio Milocco. The polychrome marble altar on the left holds a silver and gilded coffin (1840) with the relics of the blessed nun. On the right is the altar dedicated to St Rose of Lima, also a Dominican nun. The main altar has an altarpiece depicting St Mary Magdalen (1825) by Giovanni Battista Biscarra. Atop two Solomonic columns are heraldic shields of the House of Savoy; these were sculpted in 1689 and 1691 for the altar present in the church located here prior to the present Vittone church. Behind the presbytery is an oak wood-paneled choir area, once reserved for the nuns. It is roofed with a barrel vault, frescoed with tromp l'oeil quadratura (1734) by Giacomo Rapa. Among the other decorations in the church is a 16th-century crucifix and a bust of Christ sculpted by Pietro Canonica. [1] [2]
Baroque architecture is a highly decorative and theatrical style which appeared in Italy in the late 16th century and gradually spread across Europe. It was originally introduced by the Catholic Church, particularly by the Jesuits, as a means to combat the Reformation and the Protestant church with a new architecture that inspired surprise and awe. It reached its peak in the High Baroque (1625–1675), when it was used in churches and palaces in Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Bavaria and Austria. In the Late Baroque period (1675–1750), it reached as far as Russia, the Ottoman Empire and the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in Latin America. In about 1730, an even more elaborately decorative variant called Rococo appeared and flourished in Central Europe.
The Church of the Gesù is the mother church of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), a Catholic religious order. Officially named Chiesa del Santissimo Nome di Gesù, its façade is "the first truly baroque façade", introducing the baroque style into architecture. The church served as a model for innumerable Jesuit churches all over the world, especially in the central Europe and then in the Portuguese colonies. Its paintings in the nave, crossing, and side chapels became models for Jesuit churches throughout Italy and Europe, as well as those of other orders. The Church of the Gesù is located in the Piazza del Gesù in Rome and is one of the great 17th century preaching churches built by Counter-Reformation orders in the Centro Storico.
The Dominican Church, also known as the Church of St. Maria Rotunda, is an early Baroque parish church and minor basilica in the historic center of Vienna, Austria. It is the third church built on the same site in the course of time.
Santa Chiara is a religious complex in Naples, Italy, that includes the church of Santa Chiara, a monastery, tombs and an archeological museum. The basilica church of Santa Chiara faces Via Benedetto Croce, which is the easternmost leg of Via Spaccanapoli. The church facade of Santa Chiara is diagonally across from the church of Gesù Nuovo.
Gesù Nuovo is the name of a church and a square in Naples, Italy. It is located just outside the western boundary of the historic center of the city. To the southeast of the spire, one can see a block away the Fountain of Monteoliveto and the piazza of the church of Sant'Anna dei Lombardi. The square is a result of the expansion of the city to the west beginning in the early 16th century under the rule of Spanish viceroy Pedro Alvarez de Toledo. The square of Gesù Nuovo contains three prominent landmarks:
The Tempio della Beata Vergine della Ghiara, also known as Basilica della Madonna della Ghiara, is a church in Reggio Emilia, northern Italy. The building is the property of the comune (municipality) of the city.
Bernardo Antonio Vittone was an Italian architect and writer. He was one of the three most important Baroque architects active in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy; the other two were Filippo Juvarra and Guarino Guarini. The youngest of the three, Vittone was the only one who was born in Piedmont. He achieved a synthesis of the spatial inventiveness of Juvarra and the engineering ingenuity of Guarini, particularly in the design of his churches, the buildings for which he is best known.
The Shrine of Santa Maria della Steccata is a Greek-cross design Renaissance church in central Parma, Italy. The name derives from the fence in the church. A Nursing Madonna is enshrined within, crowned on 27 May 1601 by a Marian devotee, Fray Giacomo di Forli of the Capuchin order. Pope Benedict XVI raised the Marian sanctuary to the status of Basilica minor on 9 February 2008.
The Church of the Val-de-Grâce is a Roman Catholic church in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. The church was built as part of a royal abbey by Anne of Austria, the Queen of France, to celebrate the birth of her son, Louis XIV in 1638. Construction began in 1645 under the direction of architect François Mansart and was completed in 1665 by Gabriel Le Duc. The abbey and church were turned into a hospital during the French Revolution and then became part of the Val-de-Grâce Hospital, which closed in 1979. The church is attached to the diocese of the French military and is open to visitors at specified hours. Its dome is a landmark in the skyline of Paris.
San Filippo Neri is a late-Baroque style, Roman Catholic church located in Turin, region of Piedmont, Italy. The church is located on Via Maria Vittoria 5; the left flank of the nave faces the Turin Academy of Sciences. The church is still used for services. 69 metres (226 ft) long and 37 metres (121 ft) wide, it is the largest church in the city of Turin.
The church of Saint Mary Magdalene is a church located in Piazza del Popolo in the centre of Bordighera on the Riviera in Province of Imperia, Liguria, Italy. The church is home to the parish of Bordighera and of the Nervia Valley diocese of Ventimiglia-Sanremo. The church is part of the properties protected by the Superintendent of Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism (Italy).
The Church of Saint Mary of Pity is a Baroque church of Palermo. It is located at the corner of Via Alloro and Via Torremuzza in the quarter of the Kalsa, within the historic centre of Palermo.
Santa Caterina d'Alessandria or Saint Catherine of Alexandria is a Roman Catholic church with a main facade on Piazza Bellini, and a lateral Western facade facing the elaborate Fontana Pretoria, in the historic quarter of Kalsa in the city of Palermo, region of Sicily, Italy. In front of the main facade, across the piazza Bellini, rise the older churches of San Cataldo and Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio, while across Piazza Pretoria is the Theatine church of San Giuseppe and the entrance to the Quattro Canti. Refurbished over the centuries, the church retains elements and decorations from the Renaissance, Baroque, and late-Baroque (Rococo) eras. This church is distinct from the Oratorio di Santa Caterina found in the Olivella neighborhood.
Santa Maria delle Grazie is a Baroque-style, Roman Catholic basilica church located in the town of Este in the province of Padova, region of Veneto, Italy. Within the shrine is the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Graces, transferred from the ransack of Constantinople and ultimately crowned by Pope Pius VII in 10 December 1822.
The Church of Saint Ignatius is a Baroque church of Palermo. It is located in the ancient neighborhood of the Olivella, in the quarter of the Loggia, within the historic centre of Palermo.
Santa Chiara is a Roman Catholic church located on Via Barbacana, 49 in the town of Bra, province of Cuneo, region of Piedmont, northern Italy. The small domed church was designed by the late-Baroque architect Bernardo Antonio Vittone.
The Church of the Visitation is a 17th-century Roman Catholic church, attached to a monastery, located on Via XX Settembre #23 in central Turin, region of Piedmont, Italy.
San Giuliano is a Roman Catholic church and attached convent located on Via Crocifero #36 of Catania, Sicily, southern Italy. It stands across from the Collegio dei Gesuiti, whose church of San Francesco Borgia also faces Crociferi. Two blocks north on Crociferi is the baroque church of San Camillo de Lellis.
Santa Chiara all'Albergaria refers to a church and former monastery located in piazza Santa Chiara, in the quarter of Albergaria in the city of Palermo, region of Sicily, Italy. The church is located near the busy outdoor Ballarò marketplace.
Santa Croce is a late-Baroque style, Roman Catholic oratory of small church located in the town of Caramagna Piemonte, in the Province of Cuneo in the region of Piedmont, Italy. The mainl altar of this small church was designed by the Piedmontese architect Bernardo Vittone.