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Carpignano Sesia (Novara, Italy): Church of Santa Maria Assunta
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 The Church of Santa Maria Assunta in Carpignano Sesia is not one of the oldest churches, and, probably, it is also not among the most relevant churches from the point of view of art history. Nevertheless it strikes the visitor for the cascade of colors that characterizes the inside, in strong contrast to the facade, simple and almost two-tone.
The church was designed in the early eighteenth century and was finished in its structure in 1756, although the solemn consecration took place only on only 20 June 1784. The forms are therefore typically baroque.
The church has a single nave, with chapels on both sides and a large presbytery with semicircular choir.
Through two entrances to the altar you can access the Scurolo (not shown on this page), with the relics of Saint Olivo, patron of Carpignano.
The dome, built directly on the cornice ring, was completed in the year 1756, and the pictorial decoration of the basin was painted by Antonio Orgiazzi. The fresco represents the Triumph of the Cross, lifted by angels and adored by St. Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine, to whom the legend attributes the discovery of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem.
The lower part of the dome is occupied by a fake architecture built using the technique of trompe l'oeil, with stages from which groups of putti overlook and by four heart-shaped windows.
Also of the Orgiazzi is the decoration of the four spandrels of the arches under the dome, with the representation of the virtues of faith, of purity, of Religion and Virginity.
Noteworthy is the large canopy in gilded and painted carved wood, topped by floral elements and angels, and finished at the bottom by a rich festoon pendant, work of the sculptor Giuseppe Zaninetti from Crevacuore (1841).
On the walls at the side of the main altar two niches closed by carved wooden doorways of the Baroque period are visible, once containing relics of saints. Behind the altar there is a wooden choir from the Baroque epoch, finely carved and with two orders of seats.
Above the choir there is the painting of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (mt. 3.50 x 5), by Lorenzo Peracino performed in 1752 and recently restored.
On the walls of the aps there are four frescoes of the Turin painter Morgari Louis (1930-31): from left, are The Marriage of Cana, The Immaculate Virgin foretold by the Prophets, Pentecost, The Crucifixion.
The walls and the ceiling of the church, except for the dome, were entirely painted and decorated with stucco from 1910 to 1935, by the work of several painters.
On the left side of the church there is the chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary, with around the niche the Fifteen Mysteries painted in 1896 by Hannibal Longhetti.
In the same chapel is a wooden pulpit, whose four columns are made of rosewood. The carved wood panels of the pulpit depict scenes from the Gospels.
There is then the chapel of the souls in purgatory, so named by the painting, now attributed with certainty to Peracino (1771), which portrays them.
The painting, recently restored, depicts the liberation of souls from Purgatory by an angel who presents them to Christ the Judge seated on clouds between the Saints Jerome, Gregory, Augustine, Ambrose and a Saint in monastic habit.
Adjacent to it there is the ancient baptismal font, now occupied by the statue of Our Lady of Fatima.
The second chapel on the right is instead dedicated to Sant'Olivo, the patron saint of Carpignano.
The altar is embellished with a white marble cameo and above it stands a large canvas attributed to the Milanese Francesco Bianchi and executed in 1744, depicting the Holy martyr in the uniform of a Roman warrior together with S. Carlo Borromeo, San Sebastiano and San Rocco.
The fresco on the back wall (Baptism of Christ), created in 1756 to coincide with the decoration of the dome, is also attributed to Antonio Orgiazzi. Leaving the church can finally admire the precious portal of the same, of carved wood.
Although, therefore, the various decorations have been carried out on a fairly long period, they are in perfect harmony between them and are able to realize a homogeneous whole. The colors used, strong and often bright (orange, blue, light green), intersect in a thousand shapes and forms and seem to offer the visitor a different impressionist picture every time he changes the point of observation.
Categories: Places of historical value of artistic value
Piazza Volontari della Libertà, 49, Carpignano Sesia NO |
Further pictures of Church of Santa Maria Assunta in the section Photography |