Turin, a pilgrimage destination

Inside the Consolata, the ex-votos tell how dear the sanctuary is to the people of Turin: they are offerings to the Madonna, invoked as Consoler and protector of the city. There is also a venerated image linked to the iconographic tradition of the Hodegetria. On the square of the same name, the sanctuary occupies the site of the Romanesque church of Sant'Andrea, documented as early as the 10th century. What remains of it are the underground chapel of the Madonna delle Grazie and the 11th-century bell tower, attributed to the monk Bruningo, with two- and three-light mullioned windows. In 1678 Guarino Guarini designed the Baroque extension for Maria Giovanna Battista of Savoy-Nemours; in 1729 Filippo Juvarra worked on the presbytery and the high altar. The neoclassical pronaos dates from 1860, while Carlo Ceppi's further extensions date from the period between 1899 and 1904.

On entering the Madonna del Carmine, it is the light that strikes you: in the single nave, without a transept and with three chapels on each side, the lower part remains intimate and dimly lit; above, the large windows bring out the forms of the architecture. Filippo Juvarra designed the church, built between 1732 and 1736; Ignazio Agliaudo di Tavigliano, Francesco Benedetto Feroggio and Ignazio Birago di Borgaro contributed to its construction and completion. The façade remained unfinished for over a century, until Carlo Patarelli's intervention in 1871. Next to it is the convent designed in 1728 by Gian Giacomo Plantery. Severely damaged by the bombings of August 1943, the church was restored between 1947 and 1955, with partial changes to its original appearance.

In Valdocco, the Basilica di Maria Ausiliatrice stands close to the oratory where Don Bosco carried out his educational work for young people. Founder of the Salesian congregation, it was he who wanted the church and entrusted its construction to the engineer Antonio Spezia: the works took place between 1865 and 1868. Above the neo-Renaissance-inspired facade rises the great dome with the statue of the Madonna. Inside, on the high altar, you will find the painting of Mary Help of Christians by Tommaso Lorenzone. The basilica also holds the remains of Don Bosco and of other saints of the Salesian family. Enlarged in the 1930s and 1940s, it still welcomes Salesian faithful on pilgrimage from all over the world.

Among the Baroque buildings that surround it, the white marble façade of the Duomo is immediately recognisable: three portals and a look that differs from the rest of the square. The cathedral, dedicated to St John the Baptist, stands next to the Musei Reali and was built between 1491 and 1498 to a design by Meo del Caprina. It is one of the landmarks of Renaissance religious architecture in Turin. In the 17th century the complex was enlarged with the Cappella della Sacra Sindone, designed by Guarino Guarini between the Duomo and Palazzo Reale. Today the cloth is kept in a chapel of the left aisle, beneath the Tribuna Reale, and is normally not on view.

Between the Duomo and Palazzo Reale there is a chapel where the dark marble draws the eye upward to a dome that seems to grow ever lighter as it rises.

Next to Palazzo Reale, on piazza Castello, San Lorenzo almost seems to hide: it has no monumental façade of its own. Once you step inside, however, it is a completely different story.

In the floor of the Basilica del Corpus Domini there is a slab: it marks the spot where, according to tradition, on 6 June 1453 a consecrated host miraculously rose into the air. It had been stolen during a sack at Exilles and carried all the way to Turin. The church is tied to that story: the City commissioned it after a vow made during the plague of 1598. Ascanio Vitozzi designed its construction, begun in 1604 and continued for much of the 17th century, until the completion recorded in 1671. Carlo di Castellamonte worked on the design of the stone façade. Inside, the high altar in polychrome marble has four twisted columns; the altarpiece by Bartolomeo Caravoglia depicts the miracle and the frescoes on the vault recount three episodes of it according to religious tradition.

«When Superga wears its hat, the weather will turn either bad or fine.»

If you look at the hill behind Turin, you will see a dome appear. It is Superga, 672 metres: one of the highest points of the Turin hills and the place where the people of Turin take their guests when they want to show them the whole city at once. The basilica was born of a promise: in 1706 Turin was besieged by the French and Vittorio Amedeo II vowed a church to the Madonna if the city were saved. It was saved, and Filippo Juvarra built the church between 1717 and 1731, with the columned pronaos in front, the great dome and the two bell towers. Behind it are the convent and, below, the Royal Tombs of the Savoy. If you can, go up on the rack tramway from Sassi: it goes slowly, crosses the woods and prepares you for the view. You can get there by car too, but the climb is already part of the visit.

On the summit of monte Pirchiriano, at the entrance to the Val di Susa, the Sacra di San Michele dominates the valley. The visit goes from the Scalone dei Morti to the Portale dello Zodiaco, adorned with medieval sculptures, and passes through rooms from different eras. The abbey dates back to the late 10th century: it was a place of prayer and shelter for pilgrims crossing the Alps. The church, developed mainly between the 12th and 13th centuries, holds the tombs of members of the House of Savoy, moved here in the 19th century. A symbolic monument of the Piedmont Region, the Sacra is often cited among the inspirations for the setting of Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose. Outside Turin, it requires a dedicated trip, by car or by train with the local connections available.

Among the hills of the Asti area, in the territory of Castelnuovo Don Bosco, you can still find the places of Giovanni Bosco's childhood: above all the small house where he lived with his family. He was born here in 1815. He became the founder of the Salesians and his educational work later developed in Turin, in the Valdocco district. Then there is the great Basilica di San Giovanni Bosco, built from 1961 onwards and completed in its upper part in 1984. It rises on two superimposed levels: at the top the church with the dome, below it the one that holds the saint's relics. It is a pilgrimage destination in the province of Asti: better to devote a separate trip to it, preferably by car.