Spigno Monferrato
The Chapel of Santa Maria del Casato
In Spigno Monferrato, not far from the thousand-year-old Benedictine abbey, the chapel of Santa Maria del Casato, once dedicated to the Nativity of the Virgin, preserves a cycle of late 15th-century frescoes attributed to the famous Master of Roccaverano, including a valuable episode of the Assumption of the Virgin, accompanied by Saints Francis and Catherine of Alexandria.
Spigno Monferrato is located in a protected geographical position, between the Valla stream and the Bormida River. Originally under the control of the Benedictine Abbey of San Quintino, the town and its castle became a fiefdom of the Marquises of Ponzone in the 13th century, before being sold to the Genoese. In 1347, it came under the control of the Del Carretto family until the 15th century, when it fell under the influence of Milan.
Not far from the Benedictine Abbey of San Quintino, recognized as the most important medieval ecclesiastical institution in southern Piedmont, stands the modest chapel of Santa Maria del Casato, just beyond the medieval bridge that spans and connects the two banks of the Bormida. Built in the late Middle Ages, this street chapel is located along an ancient and busy Roman transit route, the Via Aemilia Scauri.
The Chapel of Santa Maria del Casato
The chapel, originally dedicated to the Nativity of the Virgin and now known as Santa Maria del Casato, was part of the possessions of the Friars Minor Conventual of Spigno. By fortunate chance, it escaped the destruction and sale of ecclesiastical assets during the Napoleonic suppressions and divestitures beginning in 1802.
In the second half of the 19th century, between 1884 and 1887, the chapel was at the center of a dispute between the parish of Rocchetta Spigno and a private individual over the ownership of certain lands in the Casato area, from which the chapel takes its name. During those same years, the chapel was described as fully equipped for celebrating Mass and blessings, equipped with sacred objects such as the paten, chalice, and missal. Its financial support was guaranteed through almsgiving, thus demonstrating its constant dedication to carrying out its religious functions.
The church is oriented and consists of a single nave ending in a flat apse, likely of medieval origin. Baroque renovations to the nave and façade (now plastered), however, make it difficult to fully understand the original structure. The interior is divided into two cross-vaulted bays, including the presbytery. It is believed that the original apse was quadrangular in shape, and that a portico, now lost, was present until the 17th-century expansions, when the current altar was installed, bearing an inscription attesting to the connection with the Franciscan order. The church’s roof was redone in the early 20th century, and there are no records of previous roofing.
In the apse of the church, the ogival triumphal arch displays a configuration that does not perfectly harmonize with the curvature of the apse vault, suggesting that it may have been modified to accommodate a pictorial intervention carried out in the early 16th century, still visible today. On the back wall of the apse is a fresco of great value and size depicting the Assumption of the Virgin, with the Child at the Virgin’s feet, surrounded by musician angels playing various instruments, including the lute, the rebec, the tambourine, the shawm, the bombard, and the bagpipe. The Marian moment is accentuated by the sound of the trumpets of two standard-bearing angels.
On the left is the episode of Saint Francis receiving the stigmata, following a traditional iconographic compositional model. On the opposite side, we see the torture of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. The princess, dressed in courtly attire, wearing a crown, and holding a book alluding to the science of the city of Alexandria, was condemned to die on cogwheels after refusing to join the emperor. The miracle occurred, as accurately depicted in the fresco, when the wheels, turned by the torturers, broke by divine will. However, the saint was subsequently beheaded.
The frescoes, dating back to the early 16th century, are attributed to the Master of Roccaverano and his workshop. This itinerant master, known for his works in the Savona area, including Murialdo and Millesimo, also worked in the area between Roccaverano and Spigno. The artist’s (and his collaborators’) recognizability is evident not only through certain formal renderings, such as the distinctive hairstyles, but also through the limited use of color, the faithful reproduction of decorative ornaments, and the meticulous rendering of the garments’ fabrics.
On the right wall, two votive panels were recently discovered, adding further splendor to the church’s embellishment. They depict a Madonna enthroned with the Child on her lap and Saint Anthony the Abbot, executed after the central wall. This form of devotion is attributable to the Franciscan Fathers, as indicated by the fragmentary inscription running along the upper frame, which reads ‘fratres’.
The Spigno Charter
The direct descendants of Aleramo, founder of the Marquises of Savona-Monferrato-Saluzzo (including Anselmo, his wife Gisla, and his brothers Guglielmo and Riprando) signed the Charta Offersionis on May 4, 991, in Visone Castle, later known as the “Charta di Spigno” (Spigno Charter). This document is of extraordinary historical value: upon Oddone’s death, the family commemorated his memory by founding a monastery in the area of present-day Spigno Monferrato, following a common practice at the time.
The founding of the monastery, in addition to fulfilling Oddone’s wish, also aimed to protect and welcome pilgrims: to do this, the future marquises offered their possessions in several places, including Spigno (ten mansi), Perletto (seven mansi), Cortemilia (ten mansi), and Cosseria (ten mansi). The donation also included one hundred and thirty farms, five hundred hectares of arable land, and the lands and possessions of Pulcherada sul Po (now San Mauro Torinese) and Giusvalla. The presentation of the gifts and the investiture of the abbot were sealed with the Salic rite, using a gesture that traditionally involved the use of a knife, a knotted straw, a glove, a vase of local soil, and a tree branch.
This foundation has been recognized as a clear example of the Aleramici policy of favoring the episcopal see of Savona over that of Acqui, with the aim of reducing the latter’s growth in power, also taking advantage of the crisis in the diocese of Alba. It was specified that the monastery must remain under the ecclesiastical control of the Bishop of Savona-Vado, and that, should the Bishop of Acqui attempt to exercise control over it in any way, the monastery would return to the direct control of the descendants of the marquises. Two centuries later, this first donation was followed by a second, granting further rights to new sites, including Cortemilia, Roccaverano (La Rocca), Perletto, Denice, Monesiglio, Prunetto, Levice, and Cosseria.
The Abbey was abandoned by the Benedictine monks in the 16th century, was later governed by the Episcopal See of Savona, and was partially destroyed by Napoleonic raids in the late 18th century, until it became privately owned and the church was partially converted into a residence. In the attic, near the counter-façade, until the last century it was possible to observe the remains of a pictorial decoration dating back to the early Middle Ages, interpretable as representations of the Last Judgement, fragments depicting the Apostles and phytomorphic ornaments.