Chiesa Parrocchiale di San Nicolao

The building is a stone’s throw from the Town Hall and the Confraternity, today a theatre.


Typology Building

Period 1380 – 1600

Accessibility No

Visitable Yes

Of Romanesque origin, the church of San Nicolao appears today in the forms that were put in place in the seventeenth century and which were enlarged and enriched towards the middle of the nineteenth century.
Organized according to the Romanesque structure with three naves marked by slender stone columns and round arches that give lightness, the building overlooks the square in front with a facade decorated in modern times. On the side the bell tower confirms the antiquity of the structure with its Romanesque mullioned windows.

The first information on the church dates back to the 14th century, while the first information about the structure dates back to the 16th century. Towards the middle of the 17th century the orientation was changed, and a new choir was built. In 1668 an inspection by Giovenale Boetto, an artist at the Turin court was documented. Towards the middle of the 19th century, a new expansion was planned, which due to economic reasons was implemented only fifty years later, when the dome was built over the high altar.

The artistic collection presents some valuable elements, among which some fragments of the great polyptych once located in the chapel of San Rocco built around 1680 and attributable to the manner of Lorenzo Gastaldi, painter of Triora, widely active in the Cuneo area.

The work for its quality and grandeur was to represent one of the richest in the entire valley. The canvas with the Shroud held by saints John and Paul is now placed in the chapel that closes the right aisle, while the canvas with Our Lady with child between Saints Antonio, Rocco and Magno is placed in the chapel next to the baptismal font.

In the chapel of the Madonna del Carmine, a statue of the Virgin is preserved, attributable, on a documentary basis, to the workshop of Carlo Giuseppe Plura.

Conditions of visit

The building develops within the old town centre of Vernante and overlooks Via Umberto I, the road that runs longitudinally along the old town centre, detaching itself from the SS 20.
Access along the street, from the central door, on a paved street. From the car park at the Visitor Centre, go up one of the small roads that come off parallel to the SS20, then keep to the left (towards the valley).
The building is open daily, it is in a good state of conservation.

Improve

Additional information

Bibliography

  • AA.VV., Le valli tra i parchi Marguareis e Alpi Marittime. Gesso, Vermegnana, Pesio, territorio della
    Bisalta, PiùEventi 2018, pp. 162.
  • A. M. Riberi, I parroci di Vernante, Cuneo, 2002
  • a cura di Diocesi di Cuneo, Parrocchia San Nicolao, Vernante Benvenuto!, edizioni Diocesi di Cuneo, 2009.

Useful links

diocesicuneo.it