ST. MICHAEL’S CHURCH

ST. MICHAEL’S CHURCH
Via Della Rovere
open at the weekends of “Casale Città Aperta”
At the beginning of the 16th century, the Confraternity of Saint Michael or “of the Nobles” was granted a lot in the cathedral graveyard on which the octagonal church was built.
The dome was frescoed in 1597 by the painter G.A. Cassano from Pavia who started the works in 1597. He painted scenes from the Bible with the three archangels Michael, Raphael and Gabriel.
Each story is separated by a grotesque and mask decoration. Some works in stucco were made in 1601. The paintings which decorate the church represent “The Annunciation”, “The Announcement to the Shepherds”, “The Nativity”, “The Archangel Saint Michael”, “Our Lady of the Assumption with Saint Francesco and San Bernardino”,”The Rest in Egypt” and have been attributed by the researcher Giovanni Romano to Guglielmo Caccia called “Il Moncalvo” and dated to earlier than 1614. The preparatory sketch for the painting The Archangel Saint Michael is now at the Royal Library in Turin. The sixth canvas, “Saint Joseph’s Dream”, dated 1627, was painted by Guglielmo Crosio.