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Biella- Church of San Filippo Neri
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 The Church of San Filippo Neri is a neoclassical church in the center of Biella, whose construction dates back to the period between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The construction of the church, commissioned by the Congregation of the Oratory, began in 1789 according to the project of the architect Carlo Ceroni. However, it was only completed in 1827, after the Congregation of the Oratory had first been suppressed in 1800 and its properties confiscated following the annexation of Piedmont by France, and then restored in 1816 following the Restoration.
The bell tower was only added in 1837 to a design by the architect Gaspare Maggia.
The facade, characterized by pastel colors, with gray structural elements and pastel yellow surfaces, has two orders, with the lower one much more developed than the upper one, which is also narrower. The lower order is punctuated by pilasters resting on a high plinth and with a capital decorated with garlands. The decorative element of the garland appears in many other points of the facade, such as the portal of the single entrance, in the centre. Above it is a frame engraved with the dedication to San Filippo Neri and to the Congregation of the Oratory. Both orders are delimited above by an elaborate frame. At the center of the lower one is a large pediment with a rose window inside.
The interior of the church comprises a single nave, without a transept and with a barrel vault with lunettes. In each of the large lunettes there is a round window. Together with the rose window in the façade and the windows in the side chapels, they ensure that the church is fairly bright.
The entire interior of the church is characterized by rather dull colours: the dominant color is the blue-green grey of the pilasters that mark all the walls, also present on many surfaces, especially in the vault. It is interspersed with tan, olive green and purple elements. The frames present on the vault of the nave and on the dome of the presbytery are then underlined with gold colour.
Note that inside there are many surfaces painted to simulate marble.
At the entrance to the presbytery, on the right, there is a large crucifix in painted wood from the seventeenth century attributed to the Piedmontese master Borrello. Also note the round pulpit in carved solid wood to the left of the entrance of the second chapel on the right. It was built in 1822-1823 by Carlo Giachetto, drawing by the architect Gaspare Moggia.
There are four lateral chapels, all having the same identical structure. The areas of the side walls not occupied by chapels have a small balcony with a balustrade decorated with garlands and vegetable elements in carved wood in the upper part and an empty space in the lower part. Two of these spaces are occupied by carved wooden confessionals.
All the chapels are shallow and rectangular in plan. They are divided from the nave by a marble balustrade and have a barrel vault with three oval frames, only the central one of which contains a fresco. The entrance arch to the chapel rests on two smooth circular columns with a capital decorated with garlands. The walls are marked by pilasters, similarly to the walls of the nave. The side walls are always occupied below by a service door, above which there is a painting with an ellipsoidal frame, while above there is the side balustrade of one of the balconies mentioned above. The back wall is always occupied in the center by a large altarpiece and an ellipsoidal window opens in the lunette.
The first chapel on the left is dedicated to St. John of Nepomuk, a 14th-century Bohemian saint. The altarpiece, from the eighteenth century, is by an unknown author and was donated by the Princes of Savoy. It depicts a Madonna in glory with angels and Saint John of Nepomuk.
The second chapel on the left is dedicated to Blessed Sebastiano Valfrè. The altarpiece was painted in 1834 by Pietro Aires (or Ayres) and was donated by Queen Margherita of Savoy. In it the blessed is portrayed in adoration of the Madonna della Consolata.
The first chapel on the right (Fig. 4) is dedicated to St. Francis de Sales. The altarpiece, by an unknown Piedmontese artist, dates from the second half of the eighteenth century and was donated by the Princes of Savoy. It depicts the Madonna and Child in glory together with St. Francis de Sales and San Carlo Borromeo.
The second chapel on the right is dedicated to the Sacred Heart and Mary. The altarpiece depicts the ecstasy of Saint Teresa of Avila. It was painted by Felice Savigliani in 1836 and was donated by Maria Clotilde of Savoy.
Another chapel is then present to the left of the presbytery. It is configured more like a small church, with a rectangular plan and the ceiling supported by large beams. On the back wall there is a polychrome marble altar surmounted by an altarpiece with an architectural structure in the center of which is a large niche with a statue of the saint. On the right wall a frame containing a painting depicting the Madonna of Oropa. The chapel is very bright because it is illuminated by two large windows looking outside on the left and by a large internal window looking towards the presbytery on the right.
The presbytery is square and slightly raised above the nave. The side walls are occupied below by two large internal windows and above by two large balconies flanked each by two balconies equal to those in the nave. The main balcony on the right houses an organ (Fig. 3).
The high altar in polychrome marble, sculpted in 1798 by Angelo Mattia Ganna to a design by Carlo Ceroni, is placed against the back wall, which therefore also acts as a retable, with two pilasters on the wall joined at the top by a large triangular pediment. Between them is a large ellipsoidal frame decorated with carved and gilded wooden fronds (Fig. 5). The altarpiece depicts the Pentecost of San Filippo Neri, or the Ecstasy of San Filippo.
It was painted in 1797 by Giuseppe Pietro Mazzola on commission from King Carlo Emanuele IV of Savoy.
Categories: Places of historical value of artistic value
Via S. Filippo, 12, 13900 Biella BI |
Church of San Filippo Neri: Further pictures in the section Photography |