Cattedrale dei Santi Pietro e Marco

The Duomo of Alessandria is a neoclassical cathedral with an unusual biography: a medieval Dominican church rebuilt by Napoleonic decree, crowned with an octagonal dome and joined by a 106-metre bell tower that anchors the city's skyline. Inside, painted decoration from the 1920s covers the story of a building twice remade.

Why it matters

This is the mother church of the Diocese of Alessandria, and its layered history mirrors the city's own. When Napoleon demolished the medieval cathedral of San Pietro in 1803 to make way for his fortress-inspired urban reorganisation, the chapter was given the old church of San Marco, a 13th-century foundation. Rebuilt almost from scratch between 1807 and 1810, it became a cathedral in neoclassical dress. Later additions — a Bramante-style dome in the 1870s, a soaring eclectic bell tower finished in 1922, and a complete interior redecoration after a devastating fire in 1925 — make it a single building that tells three centuries of Italian taste.

What to notice

• The neoclassical facade built by the Valizzone brothers between 1820 and 1822, with five statues of Christ the Redeemer and the four Evangelists and fresco work by Luigi Vacca.
• The octagonal dome, raised in 1875–1879 over the crossing to a design the

diocese records under the name of Count Emilio Arboreo Mella, with 24 niches dedicated to the patron saints of the cities of the Lombard League, a commemoration of the seventh centenary of the battle of Legnano.

• The 106-metre bell tower, designed by Giuseppe Antonio Boidi Trotti and built in stages from 1889 to 1922 for lack of funds, with a metal-bearing structure in the spire — the emblem of Alessandria on any skyline view.
• The three-nave interior with ten side chapels, including the baptistery, the chapel of San Baudolino and the chapel of the Madonna della Salve holding relics of the Holy Cross and the Holy Thorn.
• The 18th-century baroque choir, a panel by Callisto Piazza saved from the demolished medieval cathedral, and paintings associated with Moncalvo and the Genoese school, with works attributed to il Grechetto.

Context and history

Alessandria's first cathedral, titled San Pietro, rose with the city itself between 1170 and 1175 on the ground of today's Piazza della Libertà. Rebuilt and enlarged through the 13th century under a design of Ruffino Bottini da Casale, with the work completed in 1297, it served the commune until Napoleon ordered its demolition between January and March 1803 as part of the military reorganisation that followed Marengo. The bishop and chapter negotiated the transfer to San Marco, a 13th-century church held by the Dominicans from 1253 to 1794, when the French state seized it. Architect Cristoforo Valizzone rebuilt it almost entirely between May 1807 and November 1810, all but erasing the Gothic fabric; the new cathedral was blessed on 1 December 1810 and formally titled to Saints Peter and Mark.

Renovations from 1874 to 1879 under Count Emilio Arboreo Mella of Vercelli added the dome to the neoclassical building; the cathedral was consecrated on 4 July 1879. On the night of 1–2 September 1925 fire gutted the interior; restoration concluded in 1929 with the wholesale repainting of the walls and vaults by Luigi Morgari, and the cathedral reopened that April. The building thus carries, simultaneously, a medieval dedication, a Napoleonic skeleton, a 19th-century dome and a 20th-century decorative skin.