Cattedrale di Santo Stefano

On Piazza Duomo, in the historic centre below the Piazzo, stands the cathedral of Biella: a church born of a plague vow in 1402, rebuilt across the 18th and 19th centuries into a neo-Gothic whole, and seat of the Diocese of Biella since 1772. Beside it rises one of the oldest Romanesque buildings in Piedmont.

Why it matters

The Duomo is the principal Catholic church of Biella and the architectural anchor of the city's lower historic centre. Its layered construction tells the story of the town in stone: an 11th-century predecessor whose Romanesque capitals and bell tower survive, a 15th-century church built in fulfilment of a vow after the plague that closed the 14th century, a Savoy-funded enlargement after the diocese was created in 1772, and a 19th-century remodelling of the facade by Felice Marandono that gave the interior's austere structure its neo-Gothic face. Beside the cathedral stands the Romanesque Baptistery of San Giovanni, one of the historic centre's oldest buildings.

What to notice

Inside, the church is a three-aisled hall on cruciform pilasters, unified by the 18th- and 19th-century rebuilding but retaining fragments of its medieval ancestor, including Romanesque capitals from the 11th-century church. Look for the painted perspective decoration across the apse, presbyterium and dome, and the choir works begun in 1784 by Giovannino Galliari, a member of the Piedmontese family of scenic painters. The same year, Carlo Cogrosso executed the large altarpiece of the Assumption of the Virgin for the apse. The wooden pulpit, now repurposed for readings at solemn celebrations, carries carved baroque work. Outside, the 11th-century Romanesque bell tower — once part of the old claustrum — survives beside the parish house, an asymmetric counterpoint to the 19th-century facade.

Context and history

The church you see today began in 1402, when the survivors of a plague vowed to build a new church; it replaced an 11th-century place of worship, of which capitals and the bell tower remain. When the Diocese of Biella was created in 1772, this communal church of Santa Maria in Piano was raised to cathedral rank; in 1806 it received its present dedication to Santo Stefano Protomartire. From 1773 the Chapter of Canons, with substantial funding from the House of Savoy, drove a first rebuilding phase (1772-1803) that widened the aisles, added chapels, finished the transept chapels, built the sacristy and chapter hall and created underground burial areas for canons and bishops. A 19th-century phase followed, adding the portico and a remodelling of the facade by Felice Marandono and extending the painted decoration through the aisles and chapels; in 1998 the sanctuary area was redesigned by architect Gaspare Masserano.