Chiesa di Santa Maria al Castello

Santa Maria al Castello stands below Castello della Manta. Built as both the Saluzzo family’s chapel and the parish church of the borgo, it preserves a fifteenth-century Passion cycle and a later chapel dedicated to the Risen Christ.

Why it matters

The church brings together different periods of the Saluzzo family’s religious and artistic history. Its choir preserves an International Gothic Passion cycle dating to about 1427, while the Cappella del Cristo Risorto adds a later Mannerist layer to the building.

What to notice

The Passion scenes unfold in two registers and culminate in a full-wall Crucifixion. Their architectural settings, figures and details of clothing and landscape fill the choir walls. The Cappella del Cristo Risorto is decorated with frescoes and stuccoes, including prophets in the vault and medallions of the Stories of Christ. A marble plaque commemorates Gasparo Tapparelli di Lagnasco, who died in 1553; the floor slab marks the burial of Count Michele Antonio di Saluzzo in 1609.

Context and history

Valerano di Saluzzo had the church built between 1416 and 1426 to serve the family and the borgo. The choir’s frescoes date to about 1427. Later rebuilding replaced the wooden roof with a barrel vault and added side chapels; a chapel dedicated to the Madonna del Rosario was demolished in 1958. The Comune di Manta placed the church in the care of FAI in 1986. Restoration began in 1998 and was completed in 2004.