Ranverso, preceptory
Ranverso, preceptory
church
Abbeys and monasteries
brush
Fresco cycles
candle
Sacred art
photo_camera
Turismo
via S. Antonio di Ranverso 1, 10090 Buttigliera Alta
The Preceptory of St. Anthony of Ranverso stands at the edge of the moraine hill between the Susa Valley and the Val Sangone. The hospital complex began to take shape from 1188 at the behest of the canons of the Order of St. Anthony of Vienne, who devoted themselves to assisting pilgrims on the Via Francigena and caring for patients with herpes zoster (St. Anthony's fire).
The institution enjoyed the protection of the House of Savoy for centuries and, upon the suppression of the Antonian hospital order—which was incorporated into the Order of Malta in 1775—it passed to the Mauritian Order, to which it still belongs today.
The current structure is the result of continuous expansions and modifications over the centuries. The church, which was already completed at the beginning of the 13th century, was reworked in the 15th century with the addition of two side aisles. At the end of the same century, the building, as well as the small hospital, was given a gabled facade and a crowning with brick pinnacles, thanks to the will of the commendatory prior Jean de Montchenu II. The Gothic bell tower dates back to the 14th century. Among the noteworthy artistic elements, outside are, in addition to the aforementioned brick gables, the keystones, capitals, and variously figured brackets present in the portico. The church’s interior was frescoed in a first decorative campaign around 1395, when scenes of the Chapel of Mary Magdalene were created. The major pictorial work began in 1406 by Giacomo Jaquerio, who left his signature beneath the fresco depicting the Madonna on the Throne located in the presbytery. Jaquerio was active in the first half of the 15th century and is regarded as the most important promoter of International Gothic in Piedmont. His hand is visible in the frescoes of the Christ of Pity and the Stories of St. Anthony the Abbot on the right wall of the presbytery, the Madonna on the Throne on the left wall, and the Stories of St. Blaise on the right side aisle. A true masterpiece by the master is the Passion cycle, frescoed in the sacristy, where Jaquerio combines elements of flourishing Gothic with expressions of intense realism.
Inside the church, also noteworthy is the beautiful Polyptych of the Nativity with Sts. Roch, Sebastian, Anthony the Abbot, and Bernardine of Siena, created in 1531 by Defendente Ferrari, accompanied by a predella decorated with scenes from the life of St. Anthony the Abbot.
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0116200603
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