Addolorata Church

Acqui Terme, Italy

The Church of the Addolorata is a Romanesque-style basilica church in Acqui Terme. The church is dedicated to the Marian devotion of Our Lady of Sorrows, however, the church is also called San Pietro, since it was once attached to what was once the adjacent Benedictine monastery of San Pietro.

The layout we see today was built in the 11th-century at the site of a late 6th-century paleochristian church located just outside the city walls. It had three naves with an octagonal bell-tower at the southern apse. The simple brick facade has protruding pilasters and shows a trend towards verticality. After 1720, with the closing of the monastery, part of the church was rededicated to the Addolorata. It underwent major restoration after the First World War, that stripped much of the decoration, giving the interior a white-washed simplicity. The apse and the base of the bell-tower retain medieval traces.

The interior conserves a 15th-century Deposition fresco and two 16th-century canvases depicting Christ Crowned with Spines and Christ before Pilate. The wooden statue of the Madonna Addolorata dates to 1720.

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Details

Founded: 11th century
Category: Religious sites in Italy

More Information

en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4.4/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Werner Senft (5 months ago)
interesting
Ron Kiesling (7 months ago)
Not very big, but nice building. There was a market on the square.
Victor (8 months ago)
The Basilica is really magnificent from the outside, its stone construction gives it all its beauty. A little disappointed with the interior, smaller than expected and there was nothing special to see. Monument to visit if you go to Acqui Terme.
Roberta Veronelli (10 months ago)
The basilica is the oldest monument of the city, of Romanesque origin only the beautiful octagonal bell tower remains which is a rare example in Piedmont.
Lorenzo Torielli (5 years ago)
Ancient paleochristian cemetery basilica and seat of episcopal burials, it became a Benedictine monastery by the will of the Acquese bishop Dudone, at the beginning of the 11th century. To see inside the fresco, datable to the mid-fifteenth century, depicting the Pietà with the bishops San Maggiorino and San Tito on the sides, two canvases with The crowning of thorns and Jesus in front of Pilate, datable to the seventeenth century. The wooden statue of Our Lady of Sorrows was donated by Mons. Gozzani, bishop of Acqui, when at the beginning of the XVIII century he divided the abbey into two churches, one of which was dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows.
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