The Santa Maria di Piazza Church in Turin was constructed in 1751 by Bernardo Vittone. It is mostly notable because of how the architect created the cupola. He was so proud of this that he wrote a treatise about his solution.
Santa Maria di Piazza Church Turin
Useful information
Address: Via Santa Maria, 4 – Torino. Phone: +39 011 5620382. Opening times: From 07.30 till 12.45 and from 15.00 till 19.00. Entrance fee: Free.
History and description
In 1830 Barnaba Panizza completed the church with a neoclassical facade.
The most striking aspect of the architecture of this church is the octagonal presbytery with a dome inside a lantern tower. The architect fused the pendentives and the tambour. This allowed him to create open windows above the pendentives and thus lighten the load of the cupola.
What to see
The first altar on the left belongs to the Università dei Minusieri. At the time, Università had a second meaning as “Guild”. Minusieri were furniture makers and people who practiced woodwork as an art form. The guild had been instituted in 1634 by Duke Vittorio Amedeo I, who had given the organization a building in the Via Santa Maria as well. The altarpiece in the chapel was done by Mattia Franceschini (“Holy Family”).
Michele Antonio Milocco was responsible for the “Baptism of Christ” in the first chapel on the right. Milocco was an 18th century painter who had also painted some fescoes in the Palazzina di Caccia di Stupigini.
The main altar is decorated with an “Assumption of the Virgin’ by Pietro Francesco Guala.