Chiesa Parrocchiale di San Sebastiano

The parish church of San Sebastiano in Serralunga d'Alba was rebuilt between 1886 and 1888 on the site of the village's medieval pieve. Its late nineteenth-century form preserves the history of worship in the borgo since 1224.

Why it matters

The church records eight centuries of religious life in Serralunga. The present building replaced the pieve of San Benigno and a seventeenth-century church of San Sebastiano, bringing successive parish histories together on the same site.

What to notice

The façade has a central lunette portal and rose window, with hanging arches beneath the eaves. A square bell tower stands beside it. The interior has three aisles separated by pillars and a raised presbytery. Frescoes by Fedele Finati include an Adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament in the apse, while the main altar has a carved wooden panel depicting Franciscan saints before the Crucifix.

Context and history

A pieve dedicated to San Benigno is documented here in 1224, outside the original village walls. In 1574 the parish title was transferred to a church of San Sebastiano. Following a plague vow in 1630, a new church was begun in 1634 and completed around 1660. Both earlier buildings were demolished in the late nineteenth century, and the present church was built to designs by Giovenale Gastaldi between 1886 and 1888. The interior was adapted in 1966 to post-conciliar liturgical norms.