Mondovì Cathedral ( it, Cattedrale di Mondovi; Cattedrale di San Donato) is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

in Mondovì,

Province of Cuneo Cuneo (Italian), or Coni (Piedmontese), is a province in the southwest of the Piedmont region of Italy. To the west it borders on the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur ( departments of Alpes-Maritimes, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Haut ...

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, northern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, dedicated to Saint

Donatus of Arezzo Saint Donatus of Arezzo ( it, San Donato di Arezzo) is the patron saint of Arezzo, and considered a bishop of the city. A ''Passio'' of Donatus' life was written by a bishop of Arezzo, Severinus; it is of questionable historicity. He calls Don ...

. It is the seat of the

bishops of Mondovì A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

History and description

Several buildings were used over the centuries for the cathedral of the diocese. The first was the

pieve In the Middle Ages, a pieve (, ; la, plebe, link=no; plural ''pievi'') was a rural church with a baptistery, upon which other churches without baptisteries depended. The Italian word ''pieve'' is descended from Latin ''plebs'' which, after t ...

of San Donato (12th century), which was replaced at the beginning of the 16th century by a new

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

church, which was demolished by order of

Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy Emmanuel Philibert ( it, Emanuele Filiberto; pms, Emanuel Filibert; 8 July 1528 – 30 August 1580), known as ( pms, Testa 'd fer, links=no; "Ironhead", because of his military career), was Duke of Savoy from 1553 to 1580. He is remembered fo ...

, in 1574. The church of San Francesco was then declared the cathedral, to be replaced in its turn by the present one, which was built between 1743 and 1753 to designs by the architect Francesco Gallo, and consecrated ten years later by Bishop Michele Casati. The cathedral is well-supplied with works of art, many of them from its predecessor buildings. Among them are the altar of the Renaissance church (1507), now kept in the chapter room; an ancient bust of

Pope Pius V Pope Pius V ( it, Pio V; 17 January 1504 – 1 May 1572), born Antonio Ghislieri (from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri, O.P.), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1566 to his death in May 1572. He is v ...

donated by Pope Pius XI in 1872; and various paintings of the 17th and 18th centuries by

ese and Lombard artists. The painted decorations and the stucco work were executed in the mid-19th century. The presbytery and the main altar are decorated with large frescoes: in the

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...

is the ''Martyrdom of San Donato'' by Paolo Emilio Morgari; in the

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...

the ''Glorification of Saint Pius V''; in the presbytery the ''Coronation of the Virgin''. The Chapel of Suffrage is a very fine example of the

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

style of the 18th century, with an

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that include ...

crucifix A crucifix (from Latin ''cruci fixus'' meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the ''corpus'' (Lati ...

of the end of that century.

Notes and references

External links

Website of the Diocese of Mondovì: cathedral

Website of the ''Comune'' of Mondovì: cathedral

Il Proprietario: La cattedrale di Mondovì
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mondovi Cathedral Roman Catholic cathedrals in Italy Cathedrals in Piedmont Churches in the province of Cuneo Roman Catholic churches completed in 1753 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Mondovì

History and description

See also

Notes and references

External links