Chiesa di Sant'Antonio

The church of Sant'Antonio in central Acqui Terme began under a different name. Built by the Barnabites as San Paolo in 1608 and reconstructed in 1701, it acquired its present association with Sant'Antonio when the confraternity moved here in 1812.

Why it matters

The building preserves two strands of the town's religious history: the presence of the Barnabites, the Clerics Regular of Saint Paul, and the later activity of a local confraternity. The change of dedication is therefore part of the church's historical identity rather than simply a change of name.

What to notice

The baroque character of the church belongs to its rebuilding and furnishings. The choir is a notable feature, while the sacristy retains cabinets of Piedmontese baroque workmanship. These wooden furnishings express the importance of craft within the religious interiors of the period.

Context and history

The original San Paolo was connected with the Barnabite convent of the same name. Its reconstruction in 1701 renewed the building a century after its foundation. In 1812 the arrival of the confraternity of Sant'Antonio gave it the name by which it is now known. That sequence links an early-seventeenth-century religious foundation, an eighteenth-century architectural renewal and a nineteenth-century confraternal chapter.