Chiesa di Santa Maria del Monastero

Santa Maria del Monastero is Manta's oldest church, built in the late eleventh century beside a Benedictine convent. Its Romanesque structure preserves a substantial fresco cycle, including a large Last Judgment painted around 1430.

Why it matters

The Comune describes the church as Manta's first place of worship, with historical links to the Abbey of Pedona. Its three-aisled plan and semicircular apses provide a Romanesque setting for frescoes associated with the artistic world of the Marquisate of Saluzzo.

What to notice

The Last Judgment fills much of the south wall. Christ appears in a mandorla, flanked by the Virgin and Saint John; the blessed and damned are shown on either side. Other paintings depict saints and biblical scenes across the nave and apse. A doorway cut through part of the Last Judgment altered the original composition. The floor was raised when the church became a cemetery chapel, and a 1539 slab remains.

Context and history

Built with an attached Benedictine convent, the church's jurisdiction shifted among the dioceses of Turin, Mondovì and Asti before it entered the diocese of Saluzzo in 1511. It served the community until a new parish church opened in 1673. Later work added a gabled facade, bell tower, apse vault and Baroque altar. The church suffered damage during the Second World War, when it was used by military forces. Conservation campaigns from the 1970s onward repaired the building and restored frescoes, including works returned from storage in 2001.