San Secondo (Magnano)
The church of San Secondo rises in a large clearing on the other side of the ridge of the Serra Morenica di Ivrea , not far from the seat of the monastic community of Bose , in the territory of the municipality of Magnano . The charm of the place and the elegance of its shapes make it one of the most interesting examples of Romanesque architecture between the areas of Biella and Canavese .
Historical and architectural notes
At the site of the church dedicated to St. Secundus, one of the martyrs of the Thebaic Legion , there was an older church built by the Benedictines that was lower and had a single nave . In the first half of the 11th century, the church was added and expanded until it roughly assumed its present appearance.
The architectural structure of the church with ashlar walls and pebbles in horizontal bands corresponds to the usual folk Romanesque with a simple facade with protrusions and an internal division into three naves . The central nave and the right nave each end in apses of different sizes, which are provided with narrow, clearly contoured windows and decorated with pilaster strips and arched friezes below the eaves. One suspects that the small apse on the left was sacrificed for the construction of the bell tower in the following years.
The bell tower, which has been given space at the end of the right aisle, has a very elegant appearance, the lower sections being more compact and only showing notches, while the upper sections are loosened up by elegant triplet windows with small pillars and bell- shaped capitals.
Inside the church, the three naves are divided by rustic rectangular pillars with round arches; the room is covered by wooden roof trusses. At the end of the right aisle, on the wall of the bell tower, there is a 13th or 14th century fresco depicting the crucifixion with the Madonna and John .
The church had a very eventful history. It was originally built when it was still surrounded by the old town of Magnano, then lost its importance, and from the end of the 14th century the population moved downhill to where the current municipality of Magnano is. At the beginning of the 17th century the role of the parish church was taken over by the new church of Santa Marta and there was no reason to keep the old Romanesque church: in 1606 it was decided to demolish it in order to use the building material for the new church. However, the believers successfully opposed this decision and the church remained in use; they were given baroque additions. In the course of the 19th century it was allowed to deteriorate again. It was not until 1968 that the province of Vercelli and the Piedmontese superintendent decided to restore the building and restore it to its original Romanesque appearance.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Comunità monastica di Bose (ed.): La Serra: Chiese Romaniche. Qiqajon, 1999, p. 9 f.
Web links
Coordinates: 45 ° 27 '58.4 " N , 8 ° 0' 41.1" E