Romanesque among the hills of Asti
Hidden in a green valley among the hills of the Alto Monferrato Astigiano, near the village of Albugnano, the Canonica di Santa Maria di Vezzolano is one of the masterpieces of Romanesque art in Piedmont. According to legend, it was founded by Charlemagne in 773, after a vision he had while hunting in these woods; in reality the first documents date back to 1095, and the present church was built between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries for a community of Augustinian canons.
The façade, in brick and sandstone with alternating bands, is decorated with mullioned windows, small arches and statues, including Christ blessing between angels and archangels. But the real treasure is inside: the jubé, or rood screen, a marble and stone partition that separated the choir of the canons from the nave of the faithful, dated 1189 and decorated with polychrome reliefs depicting, in the upper band, the forty ancestors of Christ, and, in the lower, scenes of the death and glorification of the Virgin, a rare example of this type of structure preserved in Italy. The cloister, with columns and capitals of different eras, preserves Gothic frescoes, including the famous scene of the "Encounter of the three living and the three dead", a medieval reflection on the brevity of life. Around the abbey there are vineyards and silent woods.
Tip: the abbey is open from Tuesday to Sunday; from Albugnano, one of the highest points in the province, the view over the hills is splendid.
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