PINEROLO, DIOCESI di. — City and diocese of Piedmont, suffragan of the archdiocese of Turin.
The diocese extends over an area of 100 sq. km., with a population of 79,850 inhabitants, of whom 63,150 are Catholics; approx. 16,700 “Protestants,” for the most part Waldensians; it has 62 parishes, 25 of them of mixed religion, served by 164 diocesan priests; there are also 4 male and 40 female religious communities.
P. is mentioned in a diploma of Otto III (995?), which granted possession of it to Amizzone, archbishop of Turin. At the beginning of the 11th century, the territory passed to the marquis Olderico Manfredi. He was succeeded by his daughter Adelaide, foundress of the Benedictine monastery of S. Maria in Abbadia Alpina (1664), whose abbots exercised temporal jurisdiction over P. for a long time as well. The city was then ruled by the House of Savoy, beginning with Count Tommaso (1220). From 1295 to 1418 P. became the capital of the principality of Savoy-Achaea. In 1466 Pius II, as compensation for the renunciation of the pontificate made by Amedeo VIII (Felix V), granted the dukes of Savoy the right to appoint to consistorial benefices in P. The city experienced French rule three times: from 1536 to 1574, from 1630 to 1696, and from 1798 to 1814. During the French domination, between
(fot. Gatti)
PINEROLO, DIOCESI di — Episcopal seminary — Pinerolo.
1668 and 1678, a mysterious personage, the “Man in the Iron Mask,” was confined in the citadel; and from 1809 to 1813 Cardinal Pacca was imprisoned in the fortress of Fenestrelle.
The diocese was established at the request of Carlo Emanuele III by the brief In sacrosancta 6. Petri of Benedict XIV, dated 23 December 1748 (cf. Bullarium Benedicti XIV, II, Prato 1846, pp. 468–87). The episcopal mensa was constituted in part from the assets of the aforementioned abbey of S. Maria. In 1802 the French government suppressed all the religious Orders in the city, and in 1804 the diocese was united with that of Saluzzo; it was restored by Pius VII with the brief B. Petri Apostolorum of 17 July 1817 (Bullarii Romani continuatio, edited by R. Segreti, XIV, Rome 1849, pp. 344–58).
The most compact group of Waldensians (v.) resides in the diocese of P. Their first appearance in the valleys of P. dates back to the beginning of the 13th century.
Among the most distinguished bishops of P. are remembered: P. Giuseppe Rey (1824–32), Lanteri (v.) the opportunity to establish the Congregation of the Oblates of M. V. (v.) and called the Sisters of S. Giuseppe of Chambéry, founders of the city’s first popular schools; Andrea Charvaz (1834–52), an apologist and fighter for the freedom of the Church, author of Guida del catecumeno valdese, ossia difesa dei cattolici contro gli errori dei protestanti (Paris 1840), promoter of the establishment of the Mauritian priory of Torre Pellice, with its attached Catholic schools (1844); G. B. Rossi (1895–1922), preacher and author of catechetical works, to whom are owed the final restorations of the Cathedral and of the shrine of Madonna delle Grazie, the construction of the Episcopal Seminary (1899), and of the new parish church in Luserna S. Giovanni (1912).
MONUMENTS. – The church of S. Maurizio, with its pointed Gothic-style bell tower, rebuilt in 1481 and restored several times, which dominates the city; the Palazzo di Acaia, built by Filippo d’Acaia in 1318, in a deplorable state; the luminous Duomo, built, it seems, around 1000, rebuilt and consecrated in 1508, restored in 1885, in late Piedmontese Gothic style, rich in frescoes by Vacca, Rollini, and Reflo and in original stained-glass windows of great value; the bell tower of S. Domenico, attached to the ancient church of the same name, of which the exceedingly elegant apse remains (1438); the beautiful Baroque church attached to the monastery of the Visitation (17th century).
P. is one of the first cities in Italy in which the art of printing was cultivated (De Rubeis, 1479). It was the seat of a celebrated school of cavalry. Today commerce and industry flourish there. It has secondary and vocational schools; a classical lycée; state technical and teacher-training institutes; as well as equivalent secondary and teacher-training schools for girls, run by the Suore di S. Giuseppe di P., and the Murialdo vocational institute of the pp. Giuseppini. It has many charitable institutions: hospitals, orphanages, the first branch of the « Cottolengo » of Torino; and the hospice for chronic patients, founded by the provost Michele Cerutti in 1928. It possesses a rich civic library named after its founder, Camillo Alliaudi (1805–67).
In one of its broad squares stands the monument to General Filippo Brignone (1812–77). Other distinguished figures are: Gianfrancesco Porporato, jurist and politician (1484–1544); Michele Buniva, physician, introducer of vaccination in Piemonte (1762–1834); Ignazio Porro, scientist (1795–1875); Can. Pietro Caffaro, historian (1852–1914); Luigi Facta, politician (1861–1930). P. is also the birthplace of b. Margherita di Savoia (1391–1464).
Principal centres: Villar Perosa, Fenestrelle, Sestrières, Torre Pellice. – Vedi tav. C.