Chiesa Parrocchiale di San Dalmazzo

The parish church of San Dalmazzo stands at Piazza XI Febbraio, a few steps from Piazza Martiri della Libertà, the hub of the old town centre of Borgo San Dalmazzo.


Typology Building

Period Before 1380

Accessibility Yes

Visitable Yes

The Parish Church of San Dalmazzo is located at Piazza XI Febbraio, near the old town centre of Borgo San Dalmazzo, where the ancient abbey of Pedona originally developed. The building has been the subject in recent years of important archaeological excavations that have shown how the supporting structure can be attributed to the 11th century, when the area gravitating on the church was involved in the structures of the Benedictine abbey.

The earliest evidence, however, is more ancient: the building is in fact witnessed from the sixth century onwards, as shown by two apsidal bases visible in the Museum of the Abbey route preserved in the foundations and attributed respectively to the 6th and 8th centuries.

The moment of maximum splendour of the church dates back, however, to the Romanesque period, when the church was rebuilt several times until it reached a five-nave structure anticipated by a monumental atrium. The present structure, however, dates back largely to the work carried out at the end of the seventeenth century, when, following the crisis caused by the fall of the abbey (end of the fifteenth century), the building was rebuilt with a three-nave layout marked by imposing pillars to support the new roof with round arches.

The central nave is apsidal; the presbytery is raised above the floor of the room and rises above the Romanesque crypt built between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Above it opens the Chapel of Reliquaries built in the seventeenth century and characterized by the richness of Baroque decorations. Outside, the bell tower, rebuilt following a collapse in the twentieth century, is inserted on the left aisle, while the façade is characterized by the presence of two architectural orders, Romanesque and modern, which prove the ancient and complex history of the building.

Conditions of visit

The main entrance opens onto Piazza XI Febbraio which corresponds to the parvis of the church, which is overlooked by the other parish buildings.
The church opens onto the parvis with a beautiful Romanesque façade, punctuated by three Romanesque portals, the building’s floor level is lower than that of the parvis by about 50 cm.
The building is open all week with daily hours (8am – 7pm); it is in a good state of conservation.

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Additional information

Bibliography

Egle Micheletto, La chiesa di San Dalmazzo a Pedona , Edizioni Agami, 1999 Carlo Tosco, San Dalmazzo di pedona , in “Studi e ricerche sulla storia di Cuneo e valli 1”, Societ à per gli studi storici, archeologici e artistici della Provincia di Cuneo, Cuneo, 1996.
Walter Cesana, San Dalmazzo, Santa Croce, La Misericordia, cinque secoli di spiritualità, storia e tradizione delle tre Confraternite borgarine , Primalpe, Cuneo, 2013, pp. 29 120
Andrea Levico, Vermenagna e Roya. Le valli delle meravigl ie , Primalpe, TipoLitoEuropa, Cuneo, 2007, pp. 79 83
AA.VV., Storia religiosa delle Valli cuneesi, La Diocesi di Cuneo , Istituto Grafico Bertello, Borgo San Dalmazzo, 1968.
AA.VV., S. Dalmazzo di Pedona le sue dipendenze e antichi luoghi di culto , Edizio ni Tecniche, Istituto Grafico Bertello, Borgo San Dalmazzo, 1990.
AA.VV., Temi urbanistici su Borgo San Dalmazzo XVI XX secolo , Schedario tecnico editore, 1991, 10 11.
G.M. Gazzola e F. Rovere, San Dalmazzo di Pedona. Itinerario storico e artistico , Edizio ni Agami, 2000.
M.P. Pesce, Ricerca storico iconografica su S. Dalmazzo di Pedona , Schedario Tecnico Editore, 1993.
A.M. Riberi, S. Dalmazzo di Pedona e la sua Abbazia , BSSSCX, Tipografia Moderna,
A.M. Riberi, San Dalmazzo martire e compagni, storia popolare della vita, del culto e dell’abbazia omonima di Pedona , Istituto Grafico Bertello, Maurizio Ristorno, Civitas Pedona. Cenni storici di Borgo San Dalmazzo , Istituto Grafico Bertello, 1970.