PIEMONTE

PIEDMONT. -

I. GEOGRAPHY

It is the westernmost historical region of Italy (and thus includes the westernmost point of Italy, Rocca Chardonnett; 60° 32' 59" E. Greenwich), roughly bounded by the Alpine ridge, the Apennine ridge, the Scrivia valley, and the Ticino valley.

The name (Pedemontium, or “at the foot of the mountains”) does not well express its character: its territory, partly occupied by mountains or hills, is, for about one-third, above 1,300 m., and even the Po plain enclosed within it possesses the highest part. It is also, among the Italian divisions, the largest (including the Aosta Valley), and one of the most varied in landscape: the smaller regional units within it are numerous (Val di Susa, Canavese, Monferrato, Langhe, Ossola, Lomellina, besides the Aosta Valley, which is now administratively separate).

On 9.5% of the surface of the Republic, Piedmont contains 1/8.1% of its population, concentrated especially in the fertile plains. Of this population, more than two-fifths are engaged in agriculture, which yields a rich cereal production (the provinces of Vercelli and Novara alone produce half of the rice grown in Italy;

four-fifths of Piedmontese rice is exported; one-third of Italian rye comes from Piedmont.) and an even more notable wine production (Monferrato, Langhe, Colline del Po), also the subject of flourishing export. The irrigated meadows of the plain and the mountain pastures favor livestock raising (cattle; production of meat, butter, and cheese), which is also prosperous in the mountains. The scarcity of minerals is compensated by the abundance of water resources, which power numerous hydroelectric plants. Piedmont, which contributes 15% to Italian industrial production, is surpassed only by Lombardy. All industrial activities are represented here, from textiles (cotton mills in Turin; woolen mills in Biella), to iron and steel (Novi, Mondovì), from paper (Cuneo, Novara) and rubber (Turin) to the automobile industry, which boasts the largest complex in Italy (Fiat).

The largest inhabited centers are mostly situated in the heart of the valleys (Susa, Aosta, Varallo, Domodossola) or at their outlets onto the Piedmontese plain (Cuneo, Mondovì, Saluzzo, Pinerolo, Ivrea, Biella; and especially Turin, which with about 800,000 inhabitants is today the fourth city of the Republic).

| Provinces and capitals with respective populations in thousands | Area in sq. km. | Population |
|---------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------|------------|
| Alessandria | 87 | 1,564 |
| Cuneo | 43 | 6,002 |
| Aosta Valley | 26 | 3,263 |
| | 2,867 | 3,502 |

II. HISTORY

At present Piedmont refers to the western part of the Po plain, enclosed between the arc of the Alps and the Apennines to the north, west, and south, while to the east the boundary with Lombardy is formed by the line represented by the courses of the Ticino, the Po, and the Tidone, corresponding to the domains of the House of Savoy, confirmed by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748.

The history of the region begins with the settlement of the first populations in the Neolithic era, probably the same peoples whom classical tradition called the Ligurians, who between the 5th and 3rd centuries B.C. underwent a profound mixing with the arrival of some Celtic tribes that settled in the plain of the Po and its tributaries. The subalpine region was conquered in the 2nd century B.C. by the Romans, who in the age of Augustus also occupied the Alpine valleys. The conquest was consolidated by the establishment of various colonies: Julia Derthona, Hasta Pompeia, Eporedia, Augusta Praetoria, Augusta Taurinorum, Augusta Bagiennorum; the old Ligurian and Celtic centers were in turn organized as Roman municipalities. From Mediolanum, Placentia, and Genua, road sections were soon built leading to the Alpine passes: the Alpis Poenina (Great St. Bernard), the Alpis Graia (Little St. Bernard), the Alpis Cottia (Mont Cenis and Mont Ginevra); Julia Derthona, Vercellae, and Augusta Taurinorum were the main centers of communications. In the Augustan organization, the Piedmontese region formed the two regions of Transpadana (XI) and Liguria (IX); in the Constantinian reorganization of the 4th century, it became part of the larger region of Liguria with its capital at Mediolanum. The rich epigraphic and monumental documentation and the toponymy, in which Latin suffixes prevail over Ligurian and Celtic ones, attest to how deep Roman civilization was in the subalpine region. As regards Christianization, while it cannot be ruled out that sporadic groups of Christians already existed in the pre-Diocletianic age, it is likely that the spread of Christianity in the Piedmontese region occurred only in the age of Constantine: the earliest bishopric in the region is that of Vercelli, whose first bishop, Eusebius, extended his care also to the faithful of Novara, Ivrea, Aosta, Tortona, and Turin. In the last decades of the 4th century, bishops also appear in other principal cities, such as Novara (St. Gaudentius) and Turin (St. Maximus). It is likely that, after the death of Theodosius (395), the new imperial government established at Milan under Honorius proceeded to reorganize the civil districts, and that as a consequence there was a restructuring of the dioceses and that then the dioceses of Turin, Ivrea, Aosta, Alba, and Acqui were erected by St. Ambrose, or at least under his influence. Thus, in Turin in 398 a provincial council of the archdiocese of Milan was held. The evangelization of the populations at the beginning of the 5th century was still very rudimentary: from the sermons of St. Maximus it is clear what a mixture there was among the people of Christian beliefs and pagan beliefs. At the end of the imperial age, there were four dioceses south of the Po: Tortona, Asti, Alba, and Acqui; five north of the river: Novara, Vercelli, Ivrea, Aosta, and Turin. The largest diocese was that of Turin, which included the entire mountainous zone of the Cottian Alps, and in it Christian penetration occurred more slowly. The lists of bishops, as preserved in medieval catalogs, are not reliable for the earliest period.

The Lombard invasion, in the second half of the 6th century, destroyed the Roman provincial organization. The invaders gathered under the authority of dukes only in Novara, Ivrea, Turin, Asti, and Tortona. The Byzantines retained control of the Apennine zone, which was conquered only after 638 by Rothari. The organization of the dioceses, however, remained intact.

PIEDMONT — Women rice-planters at work in a Vercelli rice field.

Provincial synods of Milan. After the Frankish occupation, however, the Susa Valley along with the Maurienne Valley—which had also been part of the diocese of Turin—was annexed to the diocese of Vienne, and at a later stage the two valleys formed the diocese of Maurienne. As regards Piedmontese religious life in the Lombard age, the first flowering of Benedictine monasteries in various cities is noteworthy: in the Frankish zone, the abbey of Novalesa (q.v.) was founded in 726.

With regard to Lombard political life, it seems that in the subalpine region the dukes, particularly those of Turin, showed signs of true opposition to the dukes of Ticino (Pavia). At the beginning of the 7th century, perhaps in the time of Liutprand, the kings had to replace the dukes, who tended toward autonomy, with gastalds, more reliable interpreters of their will. The collapse of the Lombard Kingdom, both in 754-755 and in 774, was immediately evident in the Alpine valleys following the Frankish invasion.

With Charlemagne’s conquest, the Lombard dukes and gastalds having disappeared, Frankish counts were installed in the Piedmontese cities, often bringing with them loyal groups of warriors. All the episcopal cities also became seats of counts. The Piedmontese counties, however, were part of a great duchy of Neustria; with the Roman name of Liguria having fallen out of administrative use, the country was commonly called Longobardia Neustria. In the 10th century, a large part of the region was politically included in the March of Ivrea; after its collapse under Berengar II, so that it was limited by the course of the Po, south of the river between the Po and the sea, the three marches of Turin (Arduinica), Savona (Aleramica), and Genoa (Obertenga) were formed. In the first half of the 11th century, the marquises of Turin were hegemonic in the region; the marriage between Adelaide of Turin, heiress of Margrave Oddofred Manfredi, and Oddone, son of Humbert I “Whitehand” Count of Savoy, marked the first attempt at unifying the lands on both sides of the Alps. Between the end of the 11th and the beginning of the 12th century, hegemony passed to the Aleramici of Savona; but then the marches disappeared due to the division of domains among the various family branches. The 12th century saw the formation of marches and disputes with a predominantly patrimonial character.

Alongside the general term Lombardy (= Longobardi), specific territorial names began to appear: Lomellina, Canavese, Asti, and above all that of Piedmont, used from the 11th to the 12th century to denote the high zone at the foot of the Cottian Alps, or the plateau descending from Cuneo toward Saluzzo and Pinerolo. In the region, there was a notable revival of economic and social life already in the 10th century. Defense against the raids of the Hungarians and Saracens led to the construction of numerous castles, which were not only defensive but also centers of new economic and commercial activities. Bishops and counts were involved in this; the numerous monasteries that arose bear witness to the new life. Alongside Cluniac activity, Cistercian and then Carthusian activity developed; land reclamation and the cultivation of barren fields, the expansion of pastoralism and wool production, and agricultural progress were undeniable achievements of the subalpine monastic movement. Feudalism also played an important role in this field: the emergence of the minor feudalism of the milites secundi, who in the 11th and 12th centuries became true, albeit conditional, landowners, fostered a new interest in agriculture—the sole support of life, since warfare was not profitable in such a poor land.

The formation of episcopal feudal lordships in the cities led to the communal movement. In Asti, Tortona, Alba, Turin, Ivrea, Vercelli, and Novara, local feudal elements organized themselves under the auspices of the bishops. From the struggles between the new communal organizations and the old feudal nuclei arose attempts in the 13th century to coordinate the political forces of the Piedmontese region. At first, Frederick I, appealing especially to the piefeudali, sought to bring the communal cities into a bureaucratic organization; then the Angevin counts Charles I and Charles II, centering their efforts on Piedmont between the Alps and the Tanaro, attempted to encompass all the cities of the plain; later, the marquises of Montferrat (q.v.), from William VII Aleramico to John II Paleologus, strove to expand their domains to include the cities of the river valleys. Finally, exploiting the experience and failures of the others, the counts of Savoy acted. Masters of the Aosta and Susa valleys and claiming to reconstitute the ancient March of Turin, they sought to recover this important strategic center of the region. In 1248, Frederick II recognized these claims by granting the Savoys possession of Turin and Ivrea. For two centuries, from Amadeus IV to Amadeus VIII, the counts of Savoy, through arms and diplomacy, participated in all the conflicts among the subalpine princes, the marquises of Saluzzo and Montferrat, the Visconti of Milan, and the Angevins of Nice and Cuneo, and succeeded in asserting their hegemony, eliminating the Angevins from the Piedmontese region, restricting the area of the Visconti, and making the Paleologi of Montferrat and the Aleramici of Saluzzo their vassals. While the Angevins had styled themselves Counts of Piedmont, Amadeus VIII created a principality of Piedmont for his son, gathering under this name all the Savoyard Piedmontese domains. The seat of the Prince of Piedmont was the small central city of Turin; here, in the 15th century, the University was organized by the Savoys to meet the needs of their state; here also the Savoyard Ducal Council was established for the lands beyond the mountains. After forcing Duke Filippo Maria of Milan to cede Vercelli and all its territory west of the Sesia, and after compelling the Marquis of Montferrat to surrender Chivasso and its surrounding domains, the Duke of Savoy became master of the entire subalpine belt from Mondovì to Biella. The Visconti domains were reduced to the lower Tanaro valley alone, from Asti to Alessandria; the petty marches of Montferrat and Saluzzo played a balancing role to preserve their existence. Savoyard policy in the 15th century had as its minimum program the annexation of all lands between the Alps and the Ticino, opposed by the combined resistance of the kings of France and the dukes of Milan. Under the auspices of ducal officials, the term Piedmont expanded, first in the somewhat vague form of “partes Pedemontis,” and by the 15th century had reached as far as Vercelli. Within the Savoyard state, the process of amalgamating the various regional elements began—a process that was also the formation of the Piedmontese nation. While Saluzzo was tied to French policy and Montferrat to Milanese, around the Savoys a tradition of autonomous Piedmontese life formed, exerting an attractive force on those elements still outside. This Piedmontese conception also asserted itself within the state against the Savoyard element. The Piedmontese urban bourgeoisies wanted the Savoyard state to be based on them rather than on the Savoyard feudal class.

During the conflict between France and Spain for supremacy, under the French invasion, the Piedmontese state nuclei threatened to perish. The French program of annexing Piedmont to France, however, failed with the Peace Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis. The Savoyard State re-emerged as independent, but now the territories of Savoy were truly dominated as accessory, albeit glorious for dynastic traditions. The Savoyard State was essentially Piedmontese: Charles Emmanuel I annexed the Marquisate of Saluzzo with the Treaty of Lyon (1601). Victor Amadeus I annexed part of the Marquisate of Montferrat with the Treaty of Cherasco (1631). Victor Amadeus II succeeded in absorbing all of Montferrat in 1708, with the Treaty with the Empire against France in the War of Spanish Succession; and at the same time he occupied the Valsesia, integrating the territory of Vercelli, which Amadeus VIII had held only as far as the foothills of the Alps, as well as the annexation of Alessandria and Valenza, he came to dominate the entire course of the Tanaro. The events of European politics in the following decades, the two great wars of succession of Poland and Austria, made it possible for Savoyard policy to resume Amadeus VIII’s program of expansion east of the Sesia, in what was still called Lombardy at the time.

Charles Emmanuel III, who truly aspired to the dominion of all Lombardy and who, having occupied Milan in 1734, assumed the title of Duke of Milan, had to content himself with obtaining, with the Treaty of Vienna (1738), Novara and its territory between the Sesia and Ticino, and south of the Po, Tortona; and with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) he brought the border to Lake Maggiore, the Ticino, and south of the Po to the Tidone, annexing the upper Novarese, the Vigevanasco, the Lomellina, and the territory of Bobbio-Voghera (or Pavese beyond the Po). These territories were now also considered part of Piedmont, and there is no doubt that their contribution to the Savoyard-Piedmontese State was considerable from 1748 to the wars of the Risorgimento. They were in fact rich and populous territories that played an important role in the otherwise poor Piedmontese economy: the populations initially struggled to adapt to the Piedmontese regime after having been an integral part of the Lombard-Milanese organism for so many centuries. But the Savoyard dynasty, from the 16th to the 18th century, had devoted the greatest care to the organization of its State. Civil administration, the financial system, the army, culture, the Church, and the University were the instruments with which the dynasty, having truly become indigenous over seven centuries, shaped the Piedmontese unity that could allow for a policy of greater ambition. Under the protection of the Savoyard princes, the Church developed and organized itself in such a way as to dominate the entire life of the country. The frameworks of ecclesiastical organization took on the

In the 18th century, a national consciousness emerged in Piedmont. The Piedmontese felt they were a happy creation of the military and political efforts of their princes, but they also knew they had powerfully contributed, through the sacrifices and hardships of so many centuries, to forming a true nation from so many different ethnic elements, just as a regional unity had been formed from so many physically diverse regions. The Piedmontese nation had its own soul, a life full of aspirations to be something in the life of all the peoples of the peninsula. Piedmont had the consciousness of being an Italian national value capable of embodying the fruits of centuries of Italian spiritual activity. Thus, Piedmontese intellectual life became ever more deeply imbued with Italianness; Turin was no longer merely envisaged as the capital of Piedmont, but as the moral capital of Italy: thoughts turned to a Risorgimento in which the cultured Piedmontese class would lead the entire Italian nation. The constitution of Piedmont, both as a territorial and as a moral unity, already appeared at that time not as an unsurpassable point of arrival, but as a phase through which one had to arrive at a greater territorial and moral Italian unity. Municipalism thus appeared overcome in the spiritual travail of 18th-century Piedmont: the 19th-century Risorgimento was to resolve the problem that the generation to which Vittorio Alfieri belonged had posed with the greatest clarity.

III. CONCILIAR REGION

Groups together the ecclesiastical provinces of Turin and Vercelli. The metropolitan archdiocese of Turin has as its suffragans the sees of Acqui, Alba, Aosta, Asti, Cuneo, Fossano, Ivrea, Mondovì, Pinerolo, Saluzzo, and Susa. For ordinary appeals, it has the second-degree tribunal at Mondovì. The ecclesiastical province of Vercelli includes, besides the metropolitan see, the dioceses of Alessandria, Biella, Casale Monferrato, Novara, and Vigevano. Ordinary appeals go to the tribunal of Novara, elevated to the second degree.

According to the Instruction of the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, 24 August 1889, which for Italy was not modified by canon 292 § 1, the bishops of the two provinces meet every year under the presidency of the prelate of highest rank and seniority and hold the Episcopal Conference. In the decree of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation, 15 February 1919, the region was expressly exempted from the obligation to hold a regional plenary council, since in the two ecclesiastical provinces it did not seem difficult to hold the prescribed provincial councils. However, in the subsequent circular of 22 March 1919, the bishops were granted the faculty, if they deemed it advisable, to hold a council for the entire region, subject to apostolic assent. In fact, this faculty was used and the Plenary Council of Piedmont was celebrated in October 1927.

With the motu proprio *Qua Cura* of 8 December 1938, a regional ecclesiastical tribunal was established in Turin with exclusive competence for marriage nullity cases, which has its ordinary appellate tribunal at the regional Lombard tribunal in Milan and receives appeals from the regional Ligurian tribunal in Genoa. The functioning and procedures of this special tribunal are regulated by the Norms of the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments, 10 July 1940, as well as by the particular internal provisions approved by the bishops of the region. Agostino Pugliese

IV. ART

I. Ancient Age

While numerous are the documents of prehistory (rock engravings in the region of Monte Bego, Neolithic tombs in the Valle d’Aosta [Montiovet] and in Susa [Vayes], pile dwellings of Trana, Mercurago, and necropolises of the Novara area: Ameno, Orta, Castelletto Ticino, Varallo Pombia, etc.), and of Roman civilization (Aosta [q.v.]: city walls, Porta Pretoria, triumphal arch, cryptoportico; Susa: gate and wall; Turin: grid plan, Porta Palatina, Porta Pretoria, theatre; Acqui: aqueduct; Asti: walls and gate, bronzes; necropolises of Derthona, Pollentia, Libarna; bridges in the Valle d’Aosta and roads), relatively scarce are the testimonies of Christian art and of the early Middle Ages. Despite the region having been evangelized by the bishops Siro, Eusebio, Massimo, and Gaudenzio, and despite the enormous impulse they gave to culture and religion, very little remains from this period.

The most notable surviving architectural monuments are the 5th-century baptistery of Novara (q.V. NAVARRA, II. Monuments), and the churches of S. Maria di Naula at Piane Sesia and S. Massimo at Collegno, of which only foundations survive beneath the Romanesque structure; the baptistery of Settimo Vittone (7th century), the church of S. Giovanni at Asti, erroneously considered a crypt, the crypt of S. Secondo in the same city, S. Michele in Clivolo at Borgo d’Ale, and S. Orso at Aosta (early 9th century). Decorative material is walled into later buildings at Castelvecchio di Testona, Vezzolano, S. Orso at Aosta, in the cloister of the cathedral of Novara, or reused in more recent constructions, or collected and preserved in museums. Lombard funerary slabs are found at S. Pietro of Avigliana. There are no surviving testimonies of painting prior to the 9th century; those from the 10th to the early 12th century are extremely rare: fragments from the apse of S. Michele in Clivolo at Borgo d’Ale, deriving from the art of Trier; those from S. Maria of Castelvecchio at Mongrando, now in the Museum of Biella, which relate to the school of Tours; the Stories of the Apostles in the attic of S. Orso at Aosta, close to models from St. John’s, Münster (998); fragments of the Last Judgment at S. Quintino di Spigno, linked—as are the remnants at S. Costanzo of Dronero—to the style of Corbie; the apse of S. Ferreolo at Grosso, dependent on the illumination of Regensburg. Two consular ivory diptychs of the 5th century are preserved in the cathedrals of Novara and Aosta (q.v.). Numerous early medieval codices are kept in the chapter libraries of Vercelli, Novara, Aosta, Ivrea, and many are gathered in the National Library of Turin, among which some are particularly fine Irish manuscripts from the monastery of Bobbio. In Piedmont there existed in the early Middle Ages at least two important scriptoria, one at Vercelli (q.v.) and the other at Ivrea (q.v.). A very rare eastern work of the early Middle Ages is the rock-crystal foot of the reliquary of S. Margherita in the cathedral of Casale, and a precious casket in ivory with bronze fittings of the 19th century is preserved in the duomo of Ivrea.

2. Romanesque Period

From the end of the 10th to the 13th century, in the Romanesque period, architecture asserts itself in Piedmont with original features and resonances extending beyond the region. The architectural renewal found in Piedmont proceeds in parallel with that in Lombard art, but the introduction of vaulted ceilings, unlike in Lombardy, is found only in small buildings or in side aisles and crypts, while the use of visible trusses almost always continues. The originality of the Romanesque churches lies in their narrow and tall naves, deeply projecting apses, and the vertical sense of space, which is emphasized especially in the interior. This verticalism, already present in the Paleochristian era and still prominent in the baptistery of Novara, in the church of S. Lorenzo of Settimo Vittone (8th century), and in S. Michele in Clivolo at Borgo d’Ale, persists in the major Romanesque constructions (e.g., the abbey of Vezzolano, the cathedral of Aosta, and the sanctuary of S. Michele), typical expressions of the northern character.

From the end of the 10th century date the abbey of S. Quintino di Spigno, consecrated in 991, and the cathedral of Ivrea, founded in 969. To the same period belong the erection of the church and bell tower of S. Andrea in Turin; of 1006 is the tower of S. Benigno di Fruttuaria; of 1037 the construction of the cathedral of Acqui with its five-aisled crypt; from the beginning of the same century date S. Pietro in the same city, S. Giustina of Sezzè, the cathedral of Susa, and S. Martino of Cirìè.

The exterior is almost always constructed of exposed masonry using locally sourced materials: squared green and grey stone in the Alpine valleys or pebbles (e.g., the Sagra of S. Michele), brick in the plain (e.g., the Novara cathedral), tufa (e.g., S. Lorenzo of Montiglio), or alternating brick and tufa in the Monferrato region (e.g., S. Maria of Vezzolano), producing splendid polychrome effects. However, the most important monuments of this period are the base and apse of the Sagra of S. Michele, the atrium of the Casale cathedral with its daring vaults, and S. Maria of Vezzolano built upon the ruins of a Carolingian church. Among the bell towers, notable for their massive bulk, are those of S. Benigno of Fruttuaria, S. Stefano of Biella, and S. Orso of Aosta. Sculpture, an integral element of Romanesque architecture, runs along the architraves or the arches of the portals, on the ambo (magnificent is that of the Isola di S. Giulio in black stone with the symbols of the Evangelists rendered in high relief), and on the capitals, now with essentially ornamental motifs (S. Fede of Cavagnolo, S. Lorenzo of Montiglio), now with symbolic figurations (facade of S. Maria of Vezzolano, entrance door of the Sagra of S. Michele), now with motifs drawn from the Old Testament or liturgy (cloister of S. Orso of Aosta, 1133; internal narthex of the abbey of Vezzolano, completed in 1139). Even the windows of the apses sometimes feature superb high-relief sculptures framing them. Outstanding is the decoration of the so-called Zodiac door at the Sagra of S. Michele, executed by Niccolò, the author of the right portal of S. Zeno in Verona. Also of high quality are the reliefs of the lunettes of S. Andrea of Vercelli, attributed to a follower of Benedetto Antelami. Documentation of painting from this period is very rich; the most important cycles are found at S. Michele of Oleggio, S. Siro of Novara, S. Tommaso of Briga Novarese, and S. Giovanni of Piobesi. The very rich treasures of the churches of the Piedmont were dispersed over the centuries, but some documents of their former splendor remain: at S. Gaudenzio of Novara, the ivory diptych of the 12th century; in the cathedral of the same city, the gilded copper binding of Evangelary no. I; in the Treasury of Vercelli, the beautiful binding of the Evangelary of S. Eusebio, in gold and silver, precious stones, and enamels of the 12th century; at the Novalesa, the reliquary casket of S. Eldrado in embossed silver sheet; at S. Stefano Belbo, the silver cross. Also preserved are the large crucifixes in embossed silver and copper of the cathedrals of Vercelli and Casale from the 11th century; the bronze knockers of the Susa cathedral and the church of Sannazzaro Sesia; the Limoges and Rhenish enamels of the reliquaries of Villanova Baltea, Vercelli, or adorning the choir stalls of S. Sebastiano of Biella, or collected in the museums of Vercelli and Turin.

Notable diffusion was enjoyed by floor mosaics, almost always on a white background with black marble tesserae, rarely enlivened with red or green tones. The most considerable examples are in the presbytery of the Aosta cathedral with representations of the rivers of Paradise (12th century). Important also are the fragments from the church of S. Maria Maggiore, now in the Civic Museum of Vercelli, and those from the Casale cathedral. Others are found in the presbytery of the Novara cathedral, in the Civic Museum of Turin, and in the Seminary of Ivrea.

3. Gothic

Gothic forms penetrated very early into architecture, already asserting themselves at the beginning of the 13th century (interior and sides of S. Andrea of Vercelli) and persisting until the end of the 15th (Saluzzo cathedral, 1491–1501).

Pointed arches are frequently used in constructions, together with slender clustered columns. For a brief time, depressed arches appear in Asti and Alba, testifying to Angevin domination. The rectangular plan is rarely used in the apse (S. Maria of Casanova, S. Maria of Rivalta Scrivia, S. Francesco of Cassine); more frequent is the polygonal, radiating plan (S. Francesco of Susa, S. Antonio of Ranverso, S. Giovanni of Saluzzo, S. Domenico of Chieri and Alba, S. Secondo of Asti).

On the facades, the prevailing use is of the tall, pointed gable ending beneath the roof. The height is roughly that of Romanesque churches; rarely is it such as to require the use of flying buttresses (S. Andrea of Vercelli, Staffarda abbey, apse of S. Giovanni of Saluzzo). During this period, many Romanesque churches that had exposed trusses were covered with vaults (Casale cathedral, 13th century; S. Orso and Aosta cathedral, 15th century), lowering the original height of the buildings, which retain in the attic the ancient windows and painted decorations.

The decoration is restrained and limited to interlaced arches; only toward the mid-15th century did ornamentation begin to flourish in the friezes, in the splays of the windows (apse of S. Giovanni of Saluzzo in green stone and facade of the parish church of Chivasso, with intricate tracery featuring depictions of saints within niches). The bell towers, always very tall and pierced by biforas and triforas, terminate in slender pyramidal spires, sometimes in inverted brick, flanked by delicate pinnacles: typical are those of S. Domenico of Rivoli and S. Giovanni of Saluzzo.

Civil architecture enjoyed great development: numerous houses in the main streets, almost always equipped with porticoes; fortified houses and castles arose in every inhabited center. In the Aosta Valley, the Susa Valley, the Monferrato, and the Langhe, castles and towers are still frequent, some truncated, others still of considerable height (Asti, Alba). Among the houses, the so-called “della ferrata” in Avigliana, that of the Princes of Acaia in Pinerolo, and that of the Green Count in Rivoli are notable for the abundance of ornamentation, widespread throughout the region. Imposing castles for their bulk in the Aosta Valley (Fénis, Issogne, Verrès, Introd, Graines, Ussel) and in the Monferrato (Montiglio, Montemagno, Lerma, Cremolino, Montaldeo, Tagliolo, Silvano d’Orba, Gaglianico in the Biella area). Characteristic are the Piedmontese recetti, some still in good condition (Busano, Candelo, Salassa, Ogliarico).

Gothic sculpture has left few works in marble or stone, apart from the baptismal fonts and some reliefs and tomb slabs in Casale, Asti, Vercelli, and Turin; of high quality is the group of the Virgin with the Child on the facade of the Chieri cathedral. A large number of polychrome wooden carvings and statues, many of which are found in the Ossola Valley, in Susa, and especially in Aosta; others are collected in the Civic Museums of Turin, Vercelli, and Asti. Among the crucifixes, those of Fénis, of Challant St-Victor, of the Holy Trinity of Casale, and of the Civic Museum of Turin are noted. Notable are the choir stalls of the Chieri cathedral with motifs drawn from local flora, others with geometric interlaces and ornaments (cathedral of Susa, S. Giovanni of Saluzzo); others with intricate reliefs and tracery with fantastic figurations (Staffarda abbey); others depicting saints and prophets (Aosta cathedral, S. Orso in the same city); finally, those carved by Baldino Surso of Pavia in 1477 for S. Giovanni of Asti.

PIEDMONT — Interior of the dome of the Chapel of the Holy Shroud. Work by G. Guarini (1668–94) — Turin, Cathedral.

Interesting fragments of 14th-century Gothic painting of Lombard derivation are found in S. Andrea at Montiglio, in the chapel of the Baptist at S. Francesco in Cassine, in the cloister of Vezzolano; others with Franciscan elements at Arnaz, in the Aosta Valley, others of Emilian derivation at S. Pietro in Avigliana and at S. Antonio in Ranverso, in addition to various paintings by Barnaba da Modena at Tortona, Alba, and Turin. In the first half of the 15th century, the Gothic style dominates with Lombard influences in the Novarese, Vercellese, and Alessandrino regions (Cassine, Casa Zoppi, the art of Bonifacio Bombo); in other localities, French influence prevails: Turin, Susa, Aosta (e.g., the Deposition by G. Beltrami from Pinerolo in the church of S. Giovanni in Piobesi, dated 1441).

The most important current is that which is linked to the style of Giacomo Jaquerio, which differs from the French for its colder and more silvery colors (presbytery and sacristy of S. Antonio in Ranverso, Crucifixion and saints in the castle of Fénis, apse of S. Pietro in Pianezza, great hall of the castle of Manta).

Very beautiful are the stained-glass windows of the cathedral and of S. Orso in Aosta, from the end of the 15th century, partly the work of local artists. Outstanding masterpieces of Gothic goldsmithing adorn the church treasuries. The oldest is the reliquary of S. Andrea from the workshop of Ugo Oignies (cathedral of Chieri); in addition, numerous chalices (Aosta, Alba) and arm reliquaries (Aosta, Chieri, Casale, Vercelli), the casket of S. Grato by Giovanni di Malines (Aosta, Cathedral), the silver statues of the Virgin and of S. Giuliano (cathedral of Chieri), by Flemish goldsmiths of the second half of the 15th century, the reliquary donated by Anna of Alençon to the cathedral of Casale, by a French artist.

Lombard are the fine Cross donated in 1466 by Cardinal Teodoro Paleologo to the same cathedral; the ostensory of the Ostini brothers, Milanese, in the cathedral of Asti in 1466.

Among the illuminated manuscripts are remembered the Statutes of Turin, of Bolognese derivation, and the Malabaila codex, as well as those of the Aosta Valley (Aosta, Cathedral and S. Orso) influenced by Jaquerio.

4. The Renaissance

The Renaissance arrived late in Piedmont; Lombard forms at the end of the 15th century are affirmed, e.g., in Alba, Biella, Novara, Vercelli, and at the beginning of the 16th century, e.g., in Revello, Saluzzo (Casa Cavassa), and Aosta, where the portal of the Cathedral is inspired by Bramantesque forms from Lombardy. Among the most notable constructions are the interior of S. Sebastiano in Biella, the parish church of Roccaverano, built to a design by Bramante, the Bramantesque sanctuary of the Pietà in Canobbio and that of the Madonna di Campagna in Pallanza and of S. Croce in Boscamarengo. Notable are the military constructions, the fortress of Casale, raised in 1469, and the citadel of Turin, built by Francesco Paciotto of Urbino. The Turin cathedral (v.), has an interior with a verticality still purely Gothic. In the second half of the 16th century, Pellegrino Tibaldi worked in Turin and Novara in the churches of the SS. Martiri and of S. Gaudenzio. The sculpture in stone and marble is clearly of Lombard derivation: the portal of S. Domenico in Casale by followers of Amadeo, the lunette on the façade of the collegiate church of Arona by Mantegazza, the altar of the Nativity in the ambulatory of the cathedral of Saluzzo, the monument to Galeazzo Cavassa by Benedetto Briosco and the statues in the apse of the church of S. Giovanni, the mausoleum of Ludovico II of Saluzzo, in the same city. Antonio Carlone is the author of the altar of S. Teonesto in the cathedral of Alba, and Lombard are also the authors of the altar of S. Evaristo in the cathedral of Casale and the terracotta sculptures on the façade of the cathedral of Aosta. The Veronese Matteo Sammicheli worked extensively in Piedmont: altars and funerary monuments of his are found in Saluzzo, in the cathedral of Turin and in S. Domenico in Casale. Very fine are the Michelangelesque sculptures of the mausoleum of Pius V in Bosco Marengo.

Painting assimilated stylistic elements from neighboring regions and those with which there were more frequent commercial relations, adapting them to the local environment. In the last decades of the 15th century there was a current still Gothicizing with German and Flemish influences, of which there remain, in addition to works by Defendente Ferrari, the last exponent still active in 1530, various others by anonymous masters of superior quality (the Master of the Fontana Dispute, that of the Magdalene, etc.). Contemporary with these are Martino Spanzotti, Gaudenzio Ferrari, Macrino d'Alba, Gandolfino d'Asti, Girolamo Giovannone, all perfectly up-to-date with the new stylistic directions of the Renaissance through Lombard masters. The most important cycle of Piedmontese painting of the late 15th century is that of the castle of Issogne, where all the varieties of Piedmontese style of that period are present. The most notable personalities FERRARIENSIS (v.), who left in the frescoes of S. Bernardino in Ivrea, the former, and in those of Varallo (S. Maria delle Grazie, Sacro Monte) and Vercelli (S. Cristoforo), the latter, the masterpieces of Piedmontese painting of the 16th century. In the second half of the century the sanctuary of S. Croce in Bosco Marengo was enriched with Florentine sculptures and paintings by Giorgio Vasari and other Tuscan masters. Beautiful specimens of vestments in cut velvet, in gold brocade with polychrome embroidery, are preserved in the treasuries of the cathedrals of Aosta, Asti, Biella, Casale, Novara, Vercelli, typical those in relief of the Valdostan sacred vestments. Notable for quality are the 16th-century goldsmith works, among which the processional cross in silver of Bishop Ferreri in Vercelli and the pastoral staff in silver of the same bishop by the goldsmith Gian Galeazzo Cambi of Cremona of 1520, the cross of the cathedral of Asti by the goldsmith Feta of Cremona of 1505.

Among the furnishings are remembered the stalls and the lectern of S. Sebastiano and S. Girolamo in Biella of 1523, the seats of the chapter hall of S. Giovanni in Saluzzo and of the sacristy of the cathedral of Chieri of 1530, the door of the parish church of Revello, that of the parochial house of Villanova Solaro of 1520. Of 1590 is the door of the Ospedale Maggiore of Vercelli by Giovanni Sali, now in the Civic Museum of Vercelli.

At the end of the 16th century the architect Ascanio Vittozzi of Orvieto, called by the Savoys for the construction of new fortifications, drew up the first town plan of Turin, giving the design not only of the present layout of Piazza Castello, of Via Roma and of the façades of the respective buildings, but also foreseeing the first expansion of the city, still enclosed within the now too narrow circle of the Roman walls.

5. The Modern Age

The first town plan of the center of Turin would serve as an example for European urban planning. The uniformity of the designs for the houses of the same square and of the same street gives harmony to the whole and an absolutely original character to the city. But Vittozzi did not limit himself to these urbanistic problems; he also designed the churches of the Corpus Domini, of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Capuchins, the latter two with a central plan, as well as the design of the sanctuary of Vicoforte and the church of the cemetery of Cavaglià. Vittozzi’s work was continued by his followers, among whom Carlo di Castellamonte, author of the design of Piazza S. Carlo, of the Certosa of Collegno, of the Castle of Venaria, and of the Palazzo Taffini of Savigliano. He had as assistants and continuators his son Amedeo, author, among other things, of the Royal Palace begun in 1646, of the Castle of the Valentino, of the hospital of S. Giovanni, and Maurizio Valperga, collaborator for the arrangement of Piazza S. Carlo and of S. Teresa. Also to be remembered are the Negri of Sanfront, the Lanfranchi, the Baroncelli, the Bertòla, the Garoe, and the Ricca.

On Lake Orta, Richini created for the Milanese, who had taken refuge there to escape the plague, the beautiful church of St. Roch at Miasino, at Arona the sanctuary of St. Charles and the Seminary. The architectures designed by Galeazzo Alessi for the Sacro Monte of Varallo and those by Lombard architects for the Sacro Monte of Orta are elegant. At Casale, Sebastiano Guala stands out in the imposing church of St. Philip with its central plan and the adjoining monastery, at St. Stephen and in some chapels at the Sacro Monte of Crea.

In the urban planning of the city, Piedmontese architects knew how to align the façades with a harmonious sense of horizontality and uniformity (e.g., Via Po), within the overall layout of the blocks, while the openings continue to be traced with a vertical criterion of space and with a rhythm between solids and voids much narrower than in central Italy, according to needs corresponding to the typically Piedmontese temperament and aesthetic requirements.

When Guarini arrived in Piedmont in 1668, he brought his daring innovations with very flexible plans, domes with intricately interwoven arches, effects of light and shadow much more accentuated and violent than those used by local architects (façade and staircases of the Palazzo Carignano, church of St. Lawrence and chapel of the Holy Shroud). He indulged in the decoration of windows, pilasters and capitals and preferred brick or dark stone. Guarini concluded Piedmontese architecture of the 17th century. Meanwhile, various Lombard and Luganese sculptors worked in Turin. Sculpture was still tied to the Mannerist formulas of the late 16th century in Tommaso Carlone; it sought luministic effects in the stuccoes of Alessandro Casella and Sommasso at the Valentino and at the Palazzo Carignano, had broad and bombastic forms in the works of Dionigi Bussola at Casale (Misericordia) and at the Sacro Monte of Orta and in those of the Tabacchetti brothers at Varallo and at Crea. Painting did not present works of exceptional importance and turned toward Caravaggist luminism in Antonio d’Enrico, called Tanzio, of Varallo, who is the most notable personality of 17th-century Piedmontese art, in the Casalese Niccolò Musso, in the Saviglianese Giovanni Molinieri and in the more modest Crosio of Trino. Another group followed the footsteps of the Bolognese, especially Guercino; among these stand out the Brambilla, the Maccagno and Bartolomeo Caravoglia. In Turin, Francesco del Cairo and Morazzone served the Savoy court, where foreigners such as Giovanni Claret, Claudio Dauphin, Giovanni Miel and many portraitists from France also gathered. But quality was never high. The works of the Moncalvo Mannerists proliferated especially in the Astigiano and in Monferrato.

Among the decorators, besides Fr. Andrea Pozzo, who worked at the SS. Martiri in Turin (interior façade) and at the Mission of Mondovì, should be remembered the Recchi of Como, Isidoro Bianchi with his sons Pompeo and Francesco, and the Fea brothers of Saluzzo. At this time, interest in furniture and interior decoration increased, giving rise to typically local forms and geometric motifs. Artisan workshops began to develop greatly, where cabinetmakers, joiners, woodworkers, gilders and stucco workers, among whom the Botto of Savigliano stood out, worked busily on interiors: ceilings, floors, baseboards, doors and furniture for the new Royal Palace.

Intense work was also carried out in churches to create new furnishings and decorations: among the countless examples, mention should be made of the sacristy cupboards of the SS. Martiri, of St. Francis of Paola and St. Dominic in Turin; that of Ponzano Monferrato (now in the Civic Museum of Turin) and of St. Dominic in Rivoli, the confessionals of St. Teresa and St. Francis of Paola in Turin, of St. Philip and St. Evaristus in Casale Monferrato.

In 1714, Filippo Juvarra (v.) came to Turin at the invitation of Victor Amadeus II and soon imposed his creative personality with the façade and staircase of Palazzo Madama, the church of the Carmine, the imposing and scenographic courtyard of the sanctuary of Oropa, counterposing to the heavy luminism of the 17th century the luminosity of an airy architecture that gave lightness and grandeur to the structural layout. Juvarra created in Turin the new European 18th-century architecture. A very large group of architects who left works in every locality of Piedmont thronged around him, drawing on his art: Francesco Martinez, Nicolò di Robilant, Aliaudi of Tavigliano, Planteri, Michela, Borra, Quarini, Rana. Some of them had original insights and well-defined personalities. Among these, Benedetto Alfieri; the Monregalese Gallo, who left his masterpiece in the elliptical dome of the sanctuary of Vicoforte; the Casalese Scapitta at St. Catherine in Casale and in the parish church of Murisengo. Bernardo Vittone is the most important figure after Juvarra, original in the articulated plan of his churches, especially in the bizarre domes, e.g., at St. Mary of Piazza in Turin, at St. Michael in Rivarolo, in the parish church of Borgo d’Ale. With the architect O. Magnocavallo, who preferred Palladian forms and died in 1787, Neoclassicism was already in full swing, which would triumph in the first half of the 19th century in Turin in the noble quarter to the right of Piazza Vittorio Veneto, with buildings designed by Bonsignore, Caronesi, Talucchi and Antonelli. In Casale, Vercelli and Novara, Neoclassical forms imposed themselves for their sober dignity of proportions. 18th-century sculpture was predominantly subordinate to architecture and presented decorative features.

Highly widespread was polychrome wooden sculpture, which among many artists counted some truly notable ones: S. Clemente, C. Plura, the Botto, the Perucca, already imbued with the fragile grace of the 18th century. Ladatte, famous goldsmith and bronze worker, excelled for refined grace and excellent technique (the clock and bronzes in the Royal Palace, the breasts of the church of the Carmine, the stag surmounting the central pavilion of the Palace of Stupinigi). With Bernero and the Collino brothers, the last exponents of 18th-century Piedmontese sculpture, forms became agile and dynamic, concluding in Neoclassicism. Among Piedmontese goldsmiths and silversmiths, much appreciated even abroad, Boucheron should be remembered, who executed among other things a lamp of chased silver donated by the Queen of Spain to the sanctuary of the Madonna dei Fori in Bra. Painting, like sculpture, had a predominantly decorative and subordinate function to architecture; it indulged in covering vaults and walls and decorating large altarpieces in churches. Numerous fresco painters were called for these decorations, including the Venetians Crosato, Lorenzini, Bortoloni, Bellotto, Ricci and Nogari; the Romans Valeriani, Trevisani, Maratta, Conca; the Neapolitans Solimena, Giaquinto, De Mura and the Lombards Legnanino in Turin and Carlo Carlone in Asti. The two Piedmontese painters who stand out among the others are C. Beaumont, tied to Neapolitan and French forms, active at the Turin court, and P. F. Guala in Casale and Monferrato, closer to Bolognese and Lombard modules. To these are added the landscapes of V. A. Cignaroli, the still lifes of Rapous and Gili, the bambocciate of Olivero and Graneri. Among the portraitists, Guala is linked to painting with a delicate touch. Grassi of Casale and Clementina derive from French art.

Painting displays particularly elegant and ethereal forms in the Valsesia and around Lake Orta, where artists of notable talent, still unrecognized, have left splendid frescoes remarkable for the freshness of their colour and the originality of their composition: C. Borsetti of Alagna and F. Gianoli of Campertogno, Zanatta and the great master from Meina, Cantalupi, who evokes the Venetian airiness and the Piazzetta manner. The decoration of interiors creates masterpieces of elegance in some rooms of the Royal Palace of Turin (the Queen’s apartment), in the Palace of Stupinigi and in the halls of the Philharmonic Academy of Turin, in the palace of the Fossati counts of Bellino in Asti, and in those of the Gozzani counts of S. Giorgio and Treville in Casale. One of the Piedmontese characteristics of this period is the mirror panelling of walls and ceilings: the finest examples are in the Carignano Palace, the Royal Palace, and the Mirror Gallery of the Philharmonic Academy.

Among the cabinetmakers, mention should be made of Primotti, Piffetti, Bonzanigo, and Tanadei. In this period, the famous ceramic factories of Vinovo and Turin were established, as well as the tapestry workshop at the Royal Palace, which lasted for about eighty years with cartoons by renowned masters, and the glassworks of Chiusa Pesio.

Painting, which at the end of the eighteenth century had produced talented scenographers such as Bernardo Galliari and Luigi Vacca, and good miniature painters such as Ramelli and Lavj, declined at the beginning of the nineteenth century; it nevertheless held its own in ornamental functions, reaching a stylistic level in the decorations of the Magnocavallo Palace, by the Galliari brothers in Casale, and in the Pollenzo Villa by Palagio Palagi.

Typical embroidery of eighteenth-century Piedmont includes the small stitch used in the upholstery of “canapè,” armchairs, and chairs, alongside the “bandera,” a polychrome wool embroidery on a white linen ground.

Among woodcarvings, one should recall the choir stalls of S. Secondo in Asti (1714), the furniture in the sacristy of the church of the archbishopric in Turin, the stalls of the cathedral of the same city executed by the carver Stroppiana in 1742, the choir lofts and organ of the Asti cathedral (1770) by Bartolomeo Varale of Moncalvo, the stalls of the cathedral of S. Antonio in Casale, the pulpit of S. Domenico in the same city, and the splendid furniture of the sacristy of the Vercelli cathedral. Among the eighteenth-century goldsmith works, noteworthy is the ostensory of the Asti cathedral by the goldsmith G. A. Groppa (1770).

The sculptors of the early nineteenth century—G. Spalla, A. San Giorgio, G. Bogliani—turned to Neoclassical models. Most prominent among them was Marocchetti, the most interesting figure in Piedmont during this period, who left his masterpieces in the equestrian monuments of Charles Albert and Emmanuel Philibert in Turin. In the second half of the century, the sculptors Vela and Tabacchi distinguished themselves, and painting was renewed through Antonio Fontanesi and his followers Delleni, Calderini, etc., and through the Rivara school: Pittarra, Avondo, Reycond. At the beginning of the twentieth century, rationalist architecture asserted itself in the Fiat factories at Lingotto and, more recently, in the beautiful Olivetti buildings in Ivrea. In Turin, in 1919, Casorati initiated an avant-garde renewal of painting, which was then expanded on a broader scale in 1930 by Chessa, Menzio, Levi, Paolucci, Galante, and Boswell.

V. FOLKLORE

Popular tradition has naturally been best preserved in the various Alpine valleys, but some important urban centres have also remained faithful to ancient customs, especially for major calendar festivals.

A very important folkloric feature is the survival, in many Piedmontese towns, of the *abbazie*, i.e., youth associations whose origins date back to the Middle Ages and whose main function today is to organize traditional festivals, particularly for Carnival and May Day. Among the oldest forms preserved through these associations is the sword dance, still performed in various towns under different names: the *ba’ cubert* of Fenestrelle, the *lachera* of Rocca Grimalda (Alessandria), and the *spadonari* of S. Giorgio (Turin), S. Vincenzo, and Venaus in the Susa Valley. In these dances, the ancient propitiatory meaning for the fertility of the fields is still clearly recognizable. The actions of the *abbazie* or similar youth associations have also ensured that, in various Piedmontese cities, Carnival has retained many of its traditional aspects. The Carnival of Ivrea is still famous, centred on the figure of the *Mugnaia*, the festival’s queen, and culminating in the Battle of the Oranges, which unfolds with extreme intensity during the procession. In some towns of Monferrato, during Carnival, the festival of the *piti* (turkey) is preserved, in which knights in competition sever the bird’s head; the revelry concludes with the *testamento del piti*, a traditional form of civic satire. In Asti, the Palio has also been revived, reviving a custom dating back to the thirteenth century. Some religious festivities also display characteristic features: in the Biellese region, sacred dramas such as *Il Pastore Gelindo* for Christmas, the Passion for Holy Week, and the Last Judgement in summer are still performed. These are compositions of Baroque or Arcadian taste, executed by locals and involving the entire community in the spectacle.

Piedmontese folk art is especially evident in wooden objects carved by shepherds or local artisans: milking stools, cradles, spools, spinning wheels, wedding chests, and even statues of saints, all bearing the imprint of an innate, somewhat rough but intensely expressive taste. Among the ornamental motifs, the ancient sunwheel is also found. Among wooden objects, particular attention should be given to the *grolla*, the Valdostan wine cup, named after the mystical Grail, used for traditional group drinking in the *ronde*.

Rich too is the heritage of popular literature, both in legends with historical or sacred themes, as well as those concerning magicians, witches, ghosts, wild men, etc., and in folk songs, where epic-lyric songs prevail, as evidenced by the very important collection published by Costantino Nigra. Finally, besides those already mentioned, folk dances should be noted, such as the *corenta* and the *manfrina* or *monferrina*, the latter of which spread even far from its place of origin.

— See plates LXXXVII–LXXXIX.