The church of Santa Varena is the parish church of Villa del Foro, a hamlet of Alessandria, in the province and diocese of Alessandria.
What to see
The gabled façade, facing south, has the lintelled entrance portal at the centre and is marked by four Corinthian pilasters carrying the triangular pediment, topped by a cross. Attached to the church is the square-based bell tower, with corner pilasters; the belfry has a single-light window on each side and is crowned by the drum on which the pyramidal roof rises. The interior, on a rectangular plan, is a single nave, onto which open the side chapels introduced by round arches; the walls are marked by pilasters that carry the moulded, projecting cornice, above which the lowered barrel vault is set. At the end of the hall the presbytery, raised by a few steps and bounded by balustrades, is closed by the semicircular apse.
According to tradition it was Saint Varena herself who introduced Christianity at Forum Fulvii: the legend tells that she told the inhabitants to found a place of worship on an ancient block of granite that served as a pagan altar. The Neoclassical parish church was built in the eighteenth century and embellished in 1903 with a fresco. In the 1970s the church was adapted to post-conciliar norms with the addition of the ambo and the altar facing the assembly. Damaged by the earthquake of 2000, the building was restored and consolidated two years later and in 2017 its roof was the subject of maintenance work.
Visiting
The church is at Villa del Foro, a hamlet of Alessandria. The sources consulted give no opening hours: these should be checked with the parish.
Our editors' tip
Inside, look for the fresco of 1903 showing Saint Baudolino surrounded by geese: it is the embellishment with which the eighteenth-century building was enriched.
