Roccaverano
The old parish church of San Giovanni Battista
The former parish church of San Giovanni Battista (Saint John the Baptist) in Roccaverano, built between the 13th and 14th centuries, preserves a magnificent and extensive fresco cycle, painted after 1481 and attributed to an anonymous master. It is from this pictorial episode that the painter took the name "Master of Roccaverano," and went on to produce a rich artistic output in Piedmont and Liguria.
Roccaverano, first mentioned as “Rocha” in 991 in the Aleramic donation document on the occasion of the founding of the Benedictine monastery of Spigno Monferrato, occupies a strategic position on the ridge dividing two stretches of the Bormida River, that of Millesimo and that of Spigno. In 1209, it appears as a “castrum e villa” in a concession granted by Ottone del Carretto to Asti, already indicating the presence of a recognized settlement. In the 14th century, the Scarampi family acquired rights to Roccaverano, as attested in the municipal statutes of 1399, which also mention a “receptum,” a fortified structure for the community’s shelter. Of this ancient medieval defensive system, all that remains today is the external wall of the residential building, dating from the late 14th to early 15th century, located opposite the parish church of SS. Annunziata, designed by Donato Bramante, along with a 13th-century tower built from blocks of local stone. The latter, circular in plan and crowned with three bands of small arches and sawtooth arches, features the coat of arms of Bonifacio del Carretto di Ponti on its northern entrance.
Just beyond the ancient parish church of San Giovanni Battista, following the road leading to Denice, is the late medieval Vengore tower, dating from the mid-14th century, commissioned by the local community. This tower likely served as a road control tower, forming part of a complex defensive and offensive system along with the tower in Roccaverano.
The old parish church of San Giovanni Battista
The former parish church dedicated to San Giovanni Battista (Saint John the Baptist) was built on the hill separating the two stretches of the Bormida River before the 13th century, as evidenced by the hanging arches of the first two tiers of the bell tower, which was originally intended to stand separate from the church (as can be seen from the brickwork). The first documentary evidence, however, dates back to 1345, and it was indicated at least from 1585 as the local cemetery church, when it was ordered to erect a larger cemetery cross than the existing one.
The church of San Giovanni Battista served as a parish church until 1509, when the new Renaissance church dedicated to the Santissima Annunziata was built in the center of the village and adjacent to the castle (1509-13), commissioned by Enrietto Bruno, Archbishop of Taranto and Treasurer of the Holy See, and designed by Donato Bramante.
The oriented church features a single nave divided into four bays and ends with a presbytery raised by several steps. On the north side, the remains of a semicircular chapel can be seen, while the cemetery extends alongside. On the south side of the church, however, are the more recent buildings, including the rectory and the sacristy.
The anonymous Ligurian-Piedmontese artist who led the church’s decorative work is known as the Master of Roccaverano, whose name derives from this pictorial undertaking, recognized by modern scholars for the first time. With his workshop and other collaborators, he magnificently decorated the apse, filling every space with compositional and ornamental ingenuity and presenting a series of iconographic themes with clear and well-defined spatial solutions.
The vault’s ribs depict Christ in Glory blessing between Mary and St. John the Baptist, and the four Evangelists, each surrounded by their characteristic symbols and depicted on imposing marble thrones. In the lunette on the back wall, a Crucifixion, torn away by a later window opening, reveals only the grieving figures of Mary and Saint John the Evangelist. In the lower section, the twelve Apostles, presented in monumental proportions and recognizable by their iconographic features, unfold on three sides of the walls within polylobed frames.
The remaining spaces on the side walls are occupied by the Stories of the Life of Saint John the Baptist, the church’s patron saint, the last of the prophets and the first martyr. The events from the New Testament are painted in eight medium-sized panels, remarkably intact in their narrative completeness, spatial rendering, and accurate depiction of courtly attire, fabrics, hairstyles, and furnishings. The best-preserved scenes are located on the left wall and narrate episodes from the Saint’s Passion; in particular, the episode of Herod’s Banquet has always aroused interest for its meticulous descriptive detail. The arch leading to the sacred area depicts Saint Lucy, Saint Apollonia, Saint Agatha, and Mary Magdalene, and at the base are the shields of the Scarampi family, bankers from Asti, and the Bruno family (or the De Pasqualibus family, according to another interpretation), joint owners of the fiefdom to a lesser extent. The different sizes of the heraldic symbols also reflect the different levels of power within the fiefdom.
The pictorial cycle can be dated after 1481, the year in which Enrietto Bruno was invested with the fiefdoms of Cassinasco, Rocchetta Palafea, and part of Roccaverano, and the period to which the anonymous master’s work stylistically belongs. This dating is also important for temporally defining the career of a painter who, despite not yet having been identified by documentary evidence, worked with various collaborators in the territories dominated by the Del Carretto family, from Alessandria to Savona, by the end of the century.
The same pictorial culture is also evident on the right side wall of the first nave, restored in the early 1990s, which features an elaborate decoration accompanied by a cartouche (partly torn) bearing the name of the patron, Simonis Galesii, identified as a notary from Roccaverano, and the date 1502.
The Madonna and Child Enthroned on the apse pillar is followed on the adjacent wall by a series of Saints, of which only Saint John the Baptist is identified, surmounted by the Coronation of the Virgin. Once again, this is an important example of different patrons contributing to the embellishment of the community’s main church and drawing on the same artistic culture, fully integrated into interregional circuits.