The church of San Secondo di Magnano is built in a wide open space near the Serra d'

Ivrea Ivrea (; pms, Ivrèja ; ; lat, Eporedia) is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. Situated on the road leading to the Aosta Valley (part of the medieval Via Francigena), it stradd ...

, not far from the

Bose monastic community The Bose Monastic Community () is an ecumenical community founded by Enzo Bianchi in 1965 at Bose, a frazione in the commune of Magnano, Italy. In 2020 the Holy See ordered four members, including Bianchi, to separate from the community. Histor ...

, in the comune (''municipality'') of

Magnano Magnano is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Biella in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about south of Biella. Magnano borders the following municipalities: Bollengo, Cerrione, Palazzo Canavese, ...

, Italy. It is one of the most interesting examples of the

Romanesque architecture Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque style, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 11th century, this lat ...

in the

Provincia di Biella The Province of Biella ( it, Provincia di Biella, Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ''Provincia ëd Biela'') is a Provinces of Italy, province of Italy located in Piedmont. It was created in 1992 and its capital is the city of Biella. It has an ...

and the

Canavese Canavese ( French: ''Canavais''; Piedmontese: ''Canavèis'') is a subalpine geographical and historical area of North-West Italy which lies today within the Metropolitan City of Turin in Piedmont. Its main town is Ivrea and it is famous for its ca ...

History and architecture

There used to be an older, small church on the site of today's San Secondo. This church was probably built by the

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

s. In the first half of the 11th century the structure was raised and enlarged up to its current size. The architecture is typically Romanesque, with a projecting façade. The interior consists of a nave flanked by two aisles. The central nave and the left aisle end both with an apse with a small window. The right aisle's apse has probably been demolished to make room for the bell tower, an elegant structure with mullioned windows in its upper section. The inside of the church is divided into a nave and two aisles by rectangular

pillar A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression (physical), compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column i ...

s with rounded

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...

; the ceiling is a

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembl ...

. At the bottom of the right aisle, on the bell towers wall, there is a

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

from the 13th ir 14th century, representing a ''Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John''. The church was originally built in the ancient hamlet of Magnano, but at the end of the 14th century the village moved to Magnano's current location. At the beginning of the 17th century the parish church was moved to the new church of ''Santa Marta'' and there was no reason to preserve the old Romanesque building, so it was decided, in 1606, to demolish San Secondo in order to use its materials to build the new church. The devotee, however, took position against this decision and succeeded in maintaining the church. Baroque decorations were added. During the 19th century the church was abandoned again. Only in 1968 did the

Province of Vercelli A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outs ...

decide to restore the building and to restore its original Romanesque look.

Gallery

File:Magnano San Secondo 01.JPG, Belltower and right side File:Magnano San Secondo 02.jpg, Belltower and apse File:Magnano San Secondo 06.jpg, The apse

Bibliography

* Comunità monastica di Bose (a cura della) ''La Serra: Chiese Romaniche'', edizioni Qiqajon, 1999

References

{{coord, 45.4662, N, 8.0114, E, source:wikidata, display=title Churches in the province of Biella 14th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Magnano

History and architecture

Gallery

Bibliography

See also

References