Convento di San Domenico e Museo (Taggia)

The Dominican Convent of San Domenico in Taggia is a fifteenth-century complex whose church and former convent rooms preserve an important sequence of Ligurian Renaissance painting.

Why it matters

The convent documents the transition from medieval to Renaissance painting in Liguria. Founded in 1460 after the Dominican friar Cristoforo da Milano encouraged the people of Taggia to establish a house, it attracted commissions from Ludovico Brea and Giovanni Canavesio. Its church, cloister, chapter house and refectory survive as an architectural and artistic ensemble.

What to notice

The single-nave Gothic church contains Ludovico Brea's Polyptych of the Misericordia, his Pala di Santa Caterina da Siena of 1488 and Madonna del Rosario of 1512–1513. Giovanni Canavesio's works include a polyptych of San Domenico and the Church Fathers and Crucifixion frescoes dated 1482. The former chapter house and refectory preserve further frescoes, while the cloister's lunettes depict episodes from the life of Saint Dominic. An Adoration of the Magi attributed to Parmigianino is among the collection's notable works.

Context and history

The first stone was laid in 1460 in the presence of Bishop Napoleone Fieschi, and the church was consecrated in 1490. The community endured a Barbary raid in 1564 and a period of suppression from 1866 to 1926. The friars returned in the twentieth century and remained until 2008. The complex, owned by the Fondo Edifici di Culto, is now entrusted to the Diocese of Ventimiglia-Sanremo and cared for with local associations.