The Abbey of Sant'Albino is a church-monastery complex, founded in the 5th century in Mortara,

Province of Pavia The province of Pavia ( it, Provincia di Pavia) is a province in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy; its capital is Pavia. , the province has a population of 548,722 inhabitants and an area of ; the town of Pavia has a population of 72,205. ...

, region of

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

, Italy.

History

In 774 the abbot Alkwin Albin added a canonical college to the church, which had become a stopping place for pilgrims traveling south to Rome. Initially, the church was called Sant'Eusebio, then Albino after its bishop ''Albino Secondo'' The church of Sant'Eusebio had putatively been founded by

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

to bury the soldiers of his army who died locally in a battle on October 12, 773. Among the casualties there were also two paladins of Charlemagne's, Amelius of Alvernia and Amicus from Beyre. The church has been refurbished over the centuries, and the architecture is eclectic, mingling the original Romanesque style, clearly recognizable in the hemicircular apse, with the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

style, to be found in the facade and in the nave. Against the southern side of the portico of the facade, is a building, perhaps a part of the ancient monastery. Beside the church, there are the ruins of the cloister, a brick open gallery with wooden architraves and with a 14th-century Gothic window decorated with rural motives. In the interior, on the right wall, are three frescoes (1410) painted by

Giovanni da Milano Giovanni da Milano (Giovanni di Jacopo di Guido da Caversaccio) was an Italian Painting, painter, known to be active in Florence and Rome between 1346 and 1369. His style is, like many Florentine painters of the time, considered to be derivative ...

depicting ''St Anthony Abbott'', the ''Baptism of Jesus'', and an ''Enthroned Virgin with Donor and Saints Albin, Jacob, and Augustine''. Another fresco, by an unknown 15th-century painter depicts ''St Laurentius'' with the symbol of his martyrdom in his hand. Next to this fresco are graffiti carved in the bricks by the pilgrims over the ages: the most ancient is from the year 1100. Another anonymous fresco is on the left part of the presbytery and represents ''Virgin with Child and Saints''.La patria; geografia dell' Italia: Provincia di Milano
by Gustavo Chiesi, Luigi Borsari, Giuseppe Isidoro Arneudo, (1894): page 173.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albino Mortara Churches in the province of Pavia Monasteries in Lombardy Gothic architecture in Piedmont Renaissance architecture in Piedmont 8th-century churches in Italy