Chiesa di Sant'Ambrogio

The parish church of Sant'Ambrogio stands on Cuneo's Via Roma and preserves a Baroque interior designed by Francesco Gallo, with a gilded dome and a fifteenth-century baptistery.

Why it matters

The parish is among Cuneo's oldest churches. Its dedication recalls the city's medieval links with Milan, while its present building records an extended period of construction and artistic embellishment from the early eighteenth century onward.

What to notice

The dome was built between 1733 and 1736 and frescoed in 1765 by A. M. Milocco and C. B. Bianco. Francesco Gallo's Baroque interior was begun in 1703 and consecrated in 1743. The façade, completed in 1890–91, carries statues of Saints Ambrose and Vincent Ferrer. A fifteenth-century baptistery attributed to the Zabreri stonecutters survives from the earlier church.

Context and history

A church of Sant'Ambrogio existed here by about 1230, initially served by Benedictine monks from San Dalmazzo di Pedona. The medieval church was damaged during conflict and lost when a citadel was built under Emanuele Filiberto. Parish functions later moved to the nearby chapel of San Defendente, which was enlarged and consecrated in 1599. Francesco Gallo's new church began in 1703, with construction proceeding through the 1730s. The dome, bell tower, choir and façade were completed or altered in later phases.