Chiesa di San Domenico

Among Alba's medieval buildings, San Domenico rises beside the classical lyceum with the restrained gothic of the Duecento. Rescued from near collapse by a citizens' association, the church retains frescoes in the black-and-white pattern of the Dominican order and a Bistolfi sculpture donated by President Luigi Einaudi.

Why it matters

The Dominican church is a major example of early Gothic architecture in Alba, with a brick facade braced by four tall buttresses, a sandstone-and-brick splayed portal and a triple-nave interior on columns carrying cross vaults painted in the order's black-and-white pattern. The church remains consecrated and is recognised as a national monument. Its rescue through public subscription preserved the building and its art for the city.

What to notice

• The four facade buttresses correspond to the three-aisled interior behind.
• The ogival portal with its lunette of the Virgin and Child flanked by

Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Dominic.

• Vault frescoes of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, including

fourteenth-century work in the left apsidal chapel, safeguarded during restoration under the supervision of the heritage authority.

• The early twentieth-century sculpture by Leonardo Bistolfi, originally a

funerary monument, donated by President Luigi Einaudi to the city in memory of the fallen of the Liberation.

• Fragments of frescoes from the old Dominican convent cloister and a Roman

domus wall uncovered by the excavation campaigns inside the church.

Context and history

The Dominicans were present in Alba by the medieval period, and the church was built alongside their convent. The present fabric dates to the late thirteenth century and combines early Gothic and Lombard-Gothic features. After centuries of use, by 1975 the building — owned by the chapter of the cathedral — was in abandonment and at serious risk of collapse. The Famija Albèisa, the city's historical and cultural association, launched a public subscription that year with an initial one million lire and took over the church under an agreement signed in 1981 and renewed in 2012. Restoration has run almost continuously since: structural work and roof repairs (1975–1981), excavation of the original floor level (1981, 1983–1991), the uncovering of the Roman domus wall and cloister fresco fragments (1993–2003), and work on roofs, vaults and the Belli chapel (2005–2008), with funding from the municipality, banking foundations, the Compagnia di San Paolo, Ferrero and service clubs.