Description
The Basilica of Corpus Domini is the Baroque church that Turin built where, according to tradition, its Eucharistic miracle took place on June 6, 1453. Outside, a solemn façade of columns and statues; inside, a single nave all in dark marble.
The façade, designed with the collaboration of Carlo di Castellamonte, is marked by six pilasters and four columns. Angels and saints carved by Bernardo Falconi at the end of the 17th century complete it.
The interior strikes you with its color: in 1753 Benedetto Alfieri, commissioned by King Charles Emmanuel III, clad it in black and red marble and stucco. The effect is that of a jewel box, somber and precious at once.
The original high altar, by Francesco Lanfranchi, dated 1664, survived the 18th-century renovation; its tabernacle was redesigned later by Bernardo Vittone. In the second chapel on the right is an altar by Filippo Juvarra.
And on the floor, don't miss the slab that marks the exact spot of the miracle, the reason the church exists.
The story, as it has been handed down, begins with a looting. In the war between the House of Savoy and the Dauphiné, some soldiers had plundered the church of Exilles, in the Susa Valley, and were carrying the loot to Turin to resell it. Among the stolen goods was the consecrated host.
In front of the church of San Silvestro, the mule carrying it stopped and would not move again. According to the tale, the host rose and hung in the air for a long time, shining. The bishop hurried over with a chalice, the host settled into it and was carried in procession to the Cathedral.
On the spot a chapel rose first, then an oratory, demolished in 1607 to make room for the church by Ascanio Vitozzi. Historians, by the way, debate the miracle: a document from the time places it on a Thursday, but that June 6 was a Wednesday.
The façade, designed with the collaboration of Carlo di Castellamonte, is marked by six pilasters and four columns. Angels and saints carved by Bernardo Falconi at the end of the 17th century complete it.
The interior strikes you with its color: in 1753 Benedetto Alfieri, commissioned by King Charles Emmanuel III, clad it in black and red marble and stucco. The effect is that of a jewel box, somber and precious at once.
The original high altar, by Francesco Lanfranchi, dated 1664, survived the 18th-century renovation; its tabernacle was redesigned later by Bernardo Vittone. In the second chapel on the right is an altar by Filippo Juvarra.
And on the floor, don't miss the slab that marks the exact spot of the miracle, the reason the church exists.
The story, as it has been handed down, begins with a looting. In the war between the House of Savoy and the Dauphiné, some soldiers had plundered the church of Exilles, in the Susa Valley, and were carrying the loot to Turin to resell it. Among the stolen goods was the consecrated host.
In front of the church of San Silvestro, the mule carrying it stopped and would not move again. According to the tale, the host rose and hung in the air for a long time, shining. The bishop hurried over with a chalice, the host settled into it and was carried in procession to the Cathedral.
On the spot a chapel rose first, then an oratory, demolished in 1607 to make room for the church by Ascanio Vitozzi. Historians, by the way, debate the miracle: a document from the time places it on a Thursday, but that June 6 was a Wednesday.