Santa Caterina is a

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

-style,

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church located on Piazza Castello #36, in

Casale Monferrato Casale Monferrato () is a town in the Piedmont region of Northwest Italy, northwestern Italy, in the province of Alessandria. It is situated about east of Turin on the right bank of the Po River, Po, where the river runs at the foot of the Montfe ...

Province of Alessandria The province of Alessandria (; ; in Piedmontese of Alessandria: ''provinsa ëd Lissändria'') is an Italian Provinces of Italy, province, with a population of some 425,000, which forms the southeastern part of the region of Piedmont. The prov ...

, region of

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

, Italy.

Casale Monferrato-chiesa santa caterina-complesso

Casale Monferrato-chiesa santa caterina-facciata

History

This church was erected for Dominican nuns and consecrated in 1726. The architect was

Giacomo Zanetti Giacomo Zanetti (c.1696–1735), born probably in Lugano, was an Italian master builder and architect active in Casale Monferrato. He was responsible for some of the most interesting baroque buildings constructed in the town during the years foll ...

using designs by Giovanni Battista Scapitta. The highly decorated facade is close to the

elliptical dome An elliptical dome, or an ''oval dome'', is a dome whose bottom Cross section (geometry), cross-section takes the form of an ellipse. Technically, an ''ellipsoidal dome'' has a circular cross-section, so is not quite the same. While the cupola c ...

. The interiors were frescoed by Giovanni Carlo Aliberti who painted the ''Saints'' and ''Allegories of the Virtues'', while the dome was painted by lesser-known painters Benaschi and Vittore. The statue of the ''Virgin of the Assumption'' (1780) on the main altar was sculpted by Giovanni Battista Bernero. An association dedicated to the restoration of the church is active in 2016.Santa Caterina Onlus

References

Roman Catholic churches in Casale Monferrato 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Baroque architecture in Piedmont {{Piedmont-RC-church-stub