La Cappella dei Mercanti - Torino

La Cappella dei Mercanti

Hello from Graziano, accompanied by Mr. Pino Orsi, I had the privilege of visiting a fabulous place: "The Chapel of Mecanti".

There are no words to describe such beauty; entering the Chapel I was struck and taken away by the explosion of colors and the typical splendor of the late 600, of the Piedmont’s Baroque with a frescoed vault that "depicts the theme of the triumph of Paradise with the figure of God the Father, of the Son Redeemer, and a synthesis of the characters of the Old and New Testament ", all thanks to the inimitable brushstrokes of the" Legnanino "which express a unique polychrome, found only in the frescoes and paintings of Tintoretto.

The Chapel of Merchants, Shopkeepers and Bankers, commonly called "Cappella dei Mercanti" is located in the historic center of the City of Turin, in the area called "quadrilatero romano" (‘Roman quadrilateral’).

As well as a temple of Christian faith, it is an admirable gallery of works of art and, for this reason, was declared in 1910 a "Monument of high artistic level", by the Ministry of Education.

It belongs to the Pious Congregation of Bankers, Shopkeepers and Merchants of Turin which takes care of its conservation, restoration and promotion with guided tours as well as the liturgical celebration of Holy Mass on holidays.

In the side walls there are eleven paintings, five were made by the Jesuit, Andrea Pozzo, two are by Sebastiano Taricco of Cherasco, the others are by Savoiardo Vernier and Lombard Carlone, while the remaining two are by Legnani, the author of the frescoes of the vault.

The altar, initially entrusted to the study of Filippo Juvarra, was made later by the architect of the Court of Savoy Emanuele Buscaglione.

On either side of the altar, there are two golden reliquaries, in Baroque style, coming from a noble Genoese family, and contain important relics and skulls of some saints and the first martyrs of the Christian church.

Also on the altar is the so-called "Golden Book" with the signatures of all the confreres who over the centuries have been part of the Congress. Still in the Cappella remarkable is the still functioning 18th century organ, the work of the Conconi brothers of Cuneo, while under the choir, behind the door, there is a small style jug with six precious plaster statues of the nineteenth century.

The Chapel benches are in dark walnut, still in Baroque style, and on the back of the Prefect's seat there is a wooden carved medallion depicting an adolescent Jesus with the Doctors of the Law.

Inside the sacristy you can admire the famous "Perpetual Calendar" designed and built in 1832 by Giovanni Andrea Plana, mathematician and astronomer of international fame. Inside the cylinders constituting "the memory", over 40 thousand data are stored (mobile parties, lunations, etc.) for a period of 40 centuries, that is from year one to year 4000 after Christ.

The visit was made possible thanks to the involvement of the President of the "Cappella dei Mercanti", Comm. Lorenzo Masetta and Mr. Pino Orsi, Volunteer of the same Congregation, I sincerely thank you for that, for the great detail and love for the art with which you guided my discovery of the Chapel masterpieces.

Buona Visione