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Tavigliano (Biella)- Church of the Holy Trinity and San Carlo
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 The Church of the Holy Trinity and San Carlo, the parish church of Tavigliano, a town of less than 1,000 inhabitants just above Biella, is another monument in the Biella area that should deserve greater recognition. Visitors are struck by its monumentality and the opulence of its colorful Baroque-style decorations, though actually largely from a later period.
The church is located at the center of a monumental complex whose symmetrical side wings, in the same style of the church's facade, are represented by the parish house on the left and the chaplain-master's house on the right, now the town hall.
HISTORY
The Parish Church of the Holy Trinity and San Carlo in Tavigliano was one of the first parishes to separate from Andorno, as early as 1597. However, the faithful of the new parish were initially unable to agree on where the church should be built, so two churches were initially built. Only in 1699, after much discussion and wrangling, was a compromise reached. This agreement called for the demolition of both existing churches and the construction of a new one, the one described on this page, halfway between them, partly reusing material from the demolished ones. Work continued throughout the first half of the eighteenth century.
The bell tower was begun in 1729 and continued in the following years. The belfry was begun in 1756 but remains incomplete to this day.
The marble high altar was created in 1762. Note that the altars in the side chapels are in stucco and some parts of them date back to a later period, 1836, as the choir.
The sacristy was built between 1750 and 1771.
The parish house was built in 1818, adjoining the left side of the church.
The chaplain's house was built in 1824, adjoining the right side of the church. It is now the town hall of Tavigliano.
The painted and stucco decorations of the nave were mostly completed starting in 1835. Sources indicate that only the plasterwork on the interior walls dates to the mid-eighteenth century.
The façade was completed only in 1832. It underwent extensive restoration work in 2010-2011.
STRUCTURE
From the outside of the church, only the façade, the bell tower (at the back left, next to the apse), and the apse are visible. The façade has two orders. It stands on a high stone plinth. The lower order is divided horizontally by six columns with Ionic capitals, detached from the masonry and set in front of pilasters. There is a single entrance, in the center, with the door surrounded by a sober stone portal. In the two sections to the sides of the central one are two niches containing statues of Saint Charles and Saint Roch.
The two orders are separated by a protruding trabeation that extends forward at the columns. Above the two central columns is a semicircular pediment that extends into the upper order. The latter is punctuated by composite pilasters rising from a high plinth. At the center is a large rectangular window. The upper order is connected at the sides to the lower order by volutes.
At the top, the façade ends with an entablature consisting of multiple cornices, above which is a stone balustrade with flame holders, interrupted in the center by a triangular pediment.
From behind, the apse appears semicircular and plastered, except for buttresses made of stone mixed with brick. The bell tower, however, is entirely made of stone.
The interior has a single nave with a barrel vault and lunettes, two spans and two shorter sections, one at the entrance and one between the spans. Each lunette of the vault hosts a large rectangular window. The walls are punctuated by pilasters with false fluting and composite capitals. There are four side chapels, two on each side, all of the same structure and separated on the two sides by a narrower section with a confessional at the bottom (from the nineteenth century, but with the central door coming from furniture from an earlier period), and, above it, a small balcony choir.
The side walls are separated from the vault by a thick entablature that runs along the entire interior perimeter of the church.
The interior is characterized by a great richness of color, with nearly all surfaces decorated with frescoes and ornaments. Particularly notable is the extensive use of faux marble decoration, with gray-green hues predominating. There are also many details in blue, pink, pastel green, and orange. The entablature is particularly colorful, with a central blue band filled with orange plant-themed decorations, and the other sections alternating pastel blue and orange.
The vault is no less striking, with wine-colored frames on a pastel green background, forming a star-shaped structure in the center containing trompe l'oeil stucco. On the sides are four medallions, two per spans, depicting the Evangelists. While the decorations may at first glance appear Baroque, looking at the depictions of the Evangelists, it's clear that they are 19th-century.
Note that the coffered structure of the arch in the middle section and the entrance section is actually a trompe l'oeil simulation.
The counterfaçade is occupied along its entire width by a painted wooden choir that extends to occupy the entire depth of the entrance section. The balustrade features music-themed decorations, as is often the case. Note that the lower face of the choir is also covered with colorful painted decorations.
The choir houses a large organ with a painted wooden structure in the style of the rest of the church.
Note that the visible parts of the counterfaçade are decorated with trompe l'oeil frescoes depicting statues of biblical characters and large vases of flowers.
The carved wooden pulpit is located on the right wall, adjacent to the entrance to the presbytery, and is a 17th-century work by Giuseppe Argentero. It is polygonal, with a cupped base, and on each side of the balustrade is a bas-relief depicting an episode from the life of San Carlo.
There are four side chapels, two on each side. Additionally, at the base of the entrance section is the baptismal chapel on the left, while on the right is a curious wall cupboard with a structure enriched with bas-reliefs depicting angels and plant-themed decorations.
The Stations of the Cross consist of canvases hanging on the church's interior walls, attributed to Pietro Antonio Serpentiero (1732–1814).
All the side chapels have the same, indeed quite unusual, structure. The entrance can actually be compared to a Serlian arch with two smooth columns with Ionic capitals and two smaller-than-normal side openings. Each chapel is separated from the nave by a polychrome marble balustrade. The interior is shallow and divided into a central section, with a domed ceiling and two short lateral branches with barrel vaults. The walls are completely decorated with faux marble, and the lunette on the back wall is painted to suggest the presence of an apse. The back wall is almost entirely occupied by a large wooden altar with a faux marble painted base and a seventeenth-century Baroque retable with a stuccoed and painted wooden structure. It features two twisted columns with Corinthian capitals at the sides, supporting an opulent Baroque pediment enriched with sumptuous gilded decorations in the form of volutes, cornices, garlands, moldings, and statues of cherubs and angels. This structure frames the altarpiece.
The most artistically refined and sumptuous retable is that in the second chapel on the right, dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary. It is attributed to Pietro Antonio Serpentiere, who created it in the second quarter of the seventeenth century. It was later used as a model for the others.
- First chapel on the left: It is dedicated to Saint Roch. The altarpiece, by Giacomo Lace from 1724, is in a mixtilinear frame and depicts Our Lady of Sorrows with Saint Roch, Saint Julius, Saint Maurus, and souls in Purgatory.
- Second chapel on the left: It is dedicated to Saint Julius. The altarpiece is from the eighteenth century and is by Giovan Battista Fino. It depicts the Apparition of the Madonna and Child to Saint Julius.
- First chapel on the right: It is dedicated to the Madonna Enthroned. The altarpiece is a late Mannerist painting from 1653 by an unknown artist depicting the Madonna Enthroned surrounded by saints and flying angels.
- Second chapel on the right: It is dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary. The altarpiece, of modest artistic quality, is a Baroque painting from 1724 depicting the Madonna of the Rosary with Saint Dominic, Saint Catherine of Siena and saints.
The presbytery is separated from the nave by a sumptuous polychrome marble balustrade; access is gained through a triumphal arch decorated with monochrome trompe-l'œil frescoes depicting objects associated with the Catholic faith.
The walls of the presbytery are articulated by pilasters matching those found in the nave. There are two spans, similar to the entrance span. At the base of each span, on either side, is a door featuring a portal that appears to be made of real polychrome marble. Above the four doors are roundels supported by garlands containing busts of saints — all trompe-l'œil. Higher up, frescoes depict the Fathers of the Western Church.
The presbytery vault features trompe-l'œil painted decoration simulating coffering in the rear section and a lozenge pattern in the front section. In the front section, at the base of the vault, there are two lunettes decorated to simulate a shell containing a large vase of flowers, and a trompe-l'œil lantern at the top.
The high altar is in Baroque style. It was crafted from polychrome marble in 1762 by the marble workers Giacomo Marchese and Giacomo Pellegatta. Fine inlays of contrasting colored marbles enrich the altar table, the tabernacle, and the tiered stands for the candlesticks.
The lower section of the apse walls is occupied by a 19th-century wooden choir; its lines are understated yet not devoid of decorative elements, notably the dividers between the stalls, which are structured as fluted pilasters, and the seat backs, adorned with lozenges framed by fluted pilasters and topped with flame-holders (or flower vases?) along the upper edge. The section of the walls immediately above the wooden choir features roundels supported by garlands containing busts of saints, continuing the decorative scheme found on the side walls of the presbytery.
At the center of the choir's bottom wall stands the high altar's altarpiece, set within a magnificent, richly decorated ellipsoidal frame of carved and gilded wood featuring friezes, garlands, a winged cherub's head at the base, and a laurel wreath at the top. The 18th-century canvas is by an unknown artist and depicts the Trinity and Saint Charles Borromeo. The composition centers on Saint Charles Borromeo, shown kneeling in prayer and surrounded by angels as he gazes toward the Trinity.
The absidal basin is decorated with trompe-l'œil coffering, with at the top the Trinity, symbolized by a triangle radiating beams of light, encircled by a ring of small clouds populated by putti.
In the sacristy, there is a fine piece of furniture consisting of a lower section from the seventeenth century (originating from one of the two demolished churches) and an upper section from the mid-eighteenth century.
Categories: Places of historical value of artistic value
Piazza Don Antonio Colombo, 1, 13811 Tavigliano BI |
Church of the Holy Trinity and San Carlo: Further pictures in the section Photography |