Chiesa di San Bernardino

The Franciscan Church of San Bernardino in Ivrea was founded in 1455. Its interior preserves Giovanni Martino Spanzotti's late-fifteenth-century fresco cycle of the Life and Passion of Christ, arranged around a monumental Crucifixion.

Why it matters

San Bernardino brings together Franciscan devotional art and Ivrea's later industrial history. Spanzotti's frescoed tramezzo, the wall that once divided the friars' choir from the lay congregation, is a major work of Renaissance painting in Piedmont. After the church's religious use ended, the Olivetti family and heritage authorities contributed to its restoration in the twentieth century. The church stands within the UNESCO-listed Ivrea industrial city.

What to notice

The tramezzo presents twenty scenes from the Annunciation through the Passion around a large central Crucifixion. In the upper pendentives, the Last Judgment and figures of Saint Bernardino of Siena with his IHS trigram form part of the decoration. Franciscan saints appear alongside Catherine of Alexandria and Barbara. The coffered wooden ceiling combines restored and reconstructed elements.

Context and history

The first stone of the church and convent was laid on 14 September 1455 by Bishop Giovanni di Parella; the church was consecrated in 1457. In 1465 the nave was extended and the tramezzo added with two side chapels. After military occupation and the Napoleonic suppressions, the complex was used for agricultural storage. Camillo Olivetti acquired the area in 1907. From 1955 to 1958, restoration work repaired the church and its frescoes with the involvement of Adriano Olivetti's enterprise and heritage authorities. The fresco cycle is generally dated to 1488–1495, with some accounts placing its beginning a few years earlier.