Castellazzo Bormida
Church of the Holy Trinity from Lungi
In Castellazzo Bormida, formerly known as Gamondio, the numerous surviving medieval churches bear witness to a deep popular devotion. Among these, the Church of the Holy Trinity stands out as one of the most notable and evocative examples of medieval architecture in the region, preserving frescoes dating back to the 14th and 15th centuries, accompanied by extraordinary and refined sculptural decoration of the capitals, without equal.
Nestled between the Bormida River and the Orba Stream, Castellazzo Bormida, with its extraordinary millennia-long history and fervent religious devotion, lies along the route connecting Tortona to Genoa, part of an ancient road system that also includes the ancient Roman roads (the Aemilia Scauri and the Fulvii). Ancient Castellazzo Bormida, also known as Gamondio, was first mentioned in 938 as a gift from the King of Italy, Hugh of Arles, to his future wife, Bertha of Swabia. The name “Gamondio,” presumably of Germanic origin, may derive from its geographical location at the confluence of the Orba and Bormida rivers. Indeed, it was part of the royal hunting reserve called Silva Urba, a vast area owned by the Italian crown between the Tanaro, Bormida, and Orba rivers.
The ancient Lombard court has been identified in the elliptical layout of the current town center, later expanded into a medieval “castrum” with peripheral residences and defensive structures. The external fortification walls are only mentioned in 1420, by which time they were already part of the Duchy of Milan. One of the few visible examples of the 15th-century defense system is the tower known locally as “della Gattara”: it is a defensive tower of considerable size, circular in shape, with a sloped foundation and an internal level used for the deployment of troops and the deployment of light artillery (the arrow slits are still clearly visible today). After being abandoned as a defensive structure, the internal arches were bricked up, the tower was emptied and converted into an ice house.
A “devotional “ competition
In 1106, the community of Gamondio, which enjoyed full municipal autonomy, already had seventeen churches. In the seventeenth century, the census recorded thirty-five, including churches and oratories, leading scholars to describe the population’s religious enthusiasm as a “devotional competition.”
The oldest religious building is likely the current church of San Martino, which existed already a the turn of the millennium (year 1000), since the church was “copied” by the Gamondians in Alessandria when they participated in the founding of the city, which occurred by 1168. A convent is mentioned there from 1347, but the remains of its medieval history can be traced today only in the capitals of the current presbytery area, dating back to the early twelfth century. The church of Santa Maria della Corte is traditionally recognized as the “in curte regia Gamundii,” founded by Maria, daughter of the Lombard king Adalbert. Mentioned since 1005, it was governed by the Servite Fathers until 1807, along with the convent, built in the early 15th century and converted into the current town health center. Inside, a medical clinic preserves a fragment of a late 15th-century painting, likely a votive offering with Saint Roch and Saint Sebastian. Affected by fires and demolitions, its façade today preserves a remarkable terracotta work depicting the Madonna and Child, perhaps part of a polyptych, dated to the 15th century. Also in the town center, the oratory of Santa Maria della Pietà preserves a wooden group of the Lamentation over the Dead Christ, dating to the final decades of the 15th century, possibly of other provenance. Despite extensive alterations, including repainting and the insertion of foreign elements, it is considered the oldest wooden group of this iconography in the area and part of the rich sculptural production of Alexandria.
Outside the early medieval urban enclosure stood the church of Santo Stefano extra muros, linked to a monastic presence and likely part of a flourishing urban expansion that occurred around the 12th century. Its Romanesque structure is evident today in the traces of the construction method evident in the masonry of the external apse and in the herringbone brickwork on the southern side, as well as in the single-nave, three-apse structure, the central nave being wider than the two lateral ones, with an oratory crypt below, which survived the Baroque renovations.
Church of the Saints Trinity of Lungi (Trinità da Lungi)
On the route of an ancient Roman consular road, outside the town center, stands the isolated country church of the Holy Trinity from afar, so named to distinguish it from the Oratory of the Pietà erected in the town center.
A careful observation of the exterior allows us to admire a complete and masterful example of medieval architectural practice: the polychrome stone and brick work produces a striking and extremely rare result. The apse features three single-lancet windows, constructed from single, carefully crafted monolithic limestone blocks. The central opening differs in its arched termination, creating a refined rhythm, enriched by brackets that supported the suspended arches of the upper crown (of which superb interlaced examples remain).
Part of a larger religious complex, the church was already functioning by the early 12th century, when it was listed in 1134 among the properties granted to the Canons Regular of Santa Croce di Mortara in a papal bull, becoming a center for welcoming wayfarers. In the 14th century, a process of alienation began: it came under the jurisdiction of the Church of San Martino di Alessandria, and its assets were subsequently entrusted to various private individuals.
Documentary records attest to a period of abandonment in the 16th century and some 18th-century interventions, such as the construction of the hermit’s dwelling, until 1839, when it was listed as interdicted due to desecration. Episcopal records, however, note that since 1699, the Confraternity of San Nicolò Tolentino of Castellazzo Bormida has celebrated a mass for the dead every year on All Souls’ Day, providing unprecedented information on local community life. Other significant renovations took place between the late 19th century and the 1920s, when the hidden single-lancet window in the façade was discovered and the plaster inside was removed, allowing us to admire textbook masonry today. These works testify to a highly refined Romanesque construction technique, which used not bricks, but fragments of ancient Roman tiles, specifically selected and laid, and bands of pebbles, of equal size, carefully arranged in a herringbone pattern.
The church has a simple layout, with a transept, a single apse, and three naves, the central one being the widest and separated from the other two by three arches supported by pilasters with attached half-columns. The connection between the arches and pilasters is composed of masterfully crafted sandstone capitals, which display an extraordinary and refined sculptural decoration, unparalleled in the region. The capitals are cubic or conical in shape, expertly carved (and finished with a drill) and feature a variety of motifs, from Corinthian-style stylizations to more common plant motifs (rosettes, ribbon-like braids, heart-shaped leaves), and animal depictions, such as unusual dragons emerging from the man’s mouth. In particular, the zoomorphic elements of the nave capitals appear to have had a doctrinal and edifying purpose. The apse, on the other hand, features three highly interesting pictorial cycles, dating from the 14th to the 15th century, re-emerged from their dull state thanks to early 20th-century restorations. Starting from the left, the Madonna del Latte is seated on a majestic throne, with a blessing Christ in the center, and ending on the right is the depiction of the Trinity, represented by three identical but distinct figures seated at the Eucharistic table, in the act of blessing.
The Marian panel appears to have been executed above the Christ layer.
The spatial setting, the cusped throne, the rendering of the draperies (whose coloristic characterization has unfortunately been lost), and the extreme calligraphy of the faces have allowed this work to be compared to some local pictorial productions from the first half of the 15th century, including the decoration of the main apse of the Abbey of Santa Giustina in Sezzadio.
The Christ Enthroned, although partially illegible due to the massive “chipwork,” seems easily linked to the style of the first Master of Cassine (who decorated the Franciscan chapter house), dating this panel to the first half of the 14th century, also due to the way the backrest is decorated with the characteristic lozenge motif and the three-color Cosmatesque frieze. Finally, the Trinity, depicted according to the iconography of three identical figures seated at the Eucharistic table, of which only two figures remain visible, can be dated to the second half of the 15th century. Although stylistically distant, it finds a significant comparison with the same subject painted in the left arcosolium (niche) of the presbytery of the Abbey of Santa Maria di Rivalta Scrivia, not far from here, suggesting a request for the subject in the area.