Like every year, on Sunday 18 December at 9 pm, I was invited by the President Bruno Giordano of the “Friends of the Casanova Abbey” Association to the traditional Christmas Concert and subsequent refreshments.
The Casanova Abbey is a magnificent abbey complex located in the remote countryside of Carmagnola, in the hamlet of the same name eight kilometers from Carmagnola and only thirty from Turin, along the former state road 393 of Villastellone.
I have always been fascinated by art, historic homes and religious buildings, and I must say that Turin, with all its museums, squares, historic cafes, works of art and last but not least the esoteric paths of this city magical, it offers a large number of attractions for everyone, but above all for tourists who, since the 2006 Winter Olympics, have discovered the historical and hidden charm of the Savoyard city.
This is valid not only for Turin, but also for the entire Region, if we remember the Sacra di San Michele, the Sanctuary of Oropa, the Reggia di Venaria, to name a few.
Precisely for this reason I would like to dwell on a place that is very dear to me and that amazes and enchants me at every visit. It is a place where history, art and culture merge and mingle with a sense of great spirituality.
Both in the Church and in the Abbey Monastery we find ourselves seeking silence to pray and to learn to pray, defying time and its passage. In the part of the Abbey, every Saturday morning, Don Adriano Gennari, priest, Eucharistic point of reference both in Turin and in Casanova, always receives a long line of people in his Listening Center at the Casanova Monastery, followed by the Holy Mass celebrated by himself, a moment of great emotional intensity and physical and spiritual communication.
The Casanova di Carmagnola Abbey in its abbey complex is a place with a long history because it dates back to the year 1137. It was founded by a group of Cistercian monks, rich in works of art and largely restored to date.
Why am I telling you about it? Because from an artistic point of view, inside this Abbey, we are faced with works of art of great value, such as the frescoes by Domenico and Bartolomeo Guidobono, large canvases by Federico Cervelli, and sumptuous stuccos by Francesco Maria Scala di Cadapiano. In the side aisles of the Church you can also admire the fourteen stations of the Via Crucis donated by the House of Savoy. An entire space surrounded by great art, where you can immerse yourself like children amazed by the wonderful setting.
There is an Association “Friends of the Casanova Abbey” as I have already written, created thirty-two years ago, which works with commitment and dedication to raise funds, to participate in tenders, to interact with the Authorities, for the recovery of the entire belonging artistic heritage.
Mr. Bruno Giordano, as President, what are the aims of this Association?
“We are all volunteers and we lend ourselves not only to providing for the restoration of the works of art and the structural ones of the Church dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta di Casanova and of the Crypt. We work in agreement with the local public bodies and with the Superintendence for the Historical Artistic Heritage of Piedmont, but we also organize guided tours of the Church and the Crypt, concerts, meetings and cultural events, presentation of popular books of the place, interacting with cultural associations , social and customs of the territory”.
In the rear part of the Church in 1995 a crypt was found which I visited years ago and which contains a large fresco by Guidobono (1688). Can you tell us about this fresco?
“The Crypt, kept in the monumental context of the Abbey, is located under the choir of the Church, and was completely frescoed by Domenico Guidobono, with his work entitled “Lamentation over the Dead Christ”. Just think that it was sealed for two hundred years and miraculously rediscovered on 10 October 1995. Its existence was presumed by analogy with other abbeys, but one certainly did not imagine finding such an important artistic jewel there, the work of the young Domenico Guidobono. For some years the Polytechnic of Turin has been conducting special tests for humidity, color and biometrics to subsequently proceed with the restoration of the work and consolidate its estate”.
Finally, what can he still communicate to us to invite us not to miss this artistic experience of great content?
“I start by saying that Casanova’s Museum of Sacred Art was recently annexed to the Carmagnola museum network, together with others such as the Civic Museum of Natural History, the Civic Gallery of Contemporary Art in Palazzo Lomellini and more.
You can contact us directly by calling the Association on 334 3001779 to schedule visits and I invite you to join the Facebook page of the Friends of the Casanova Abbey Association, because only many can build a community capable of supporting us for the conservation and restoration work of such a historical beauty”.