The cathedral of Sant'Evasio is the oldest monument in Casale Monferrato, a cathedral in the Lombard Romanesque style. It was consecrated in 1107 by Pope Paschal II, where a church of the age of Liutprand dedicated to St Lawrence had stood before. Burnt in 1215, during the war between the people of Casale and a coalition of nearby towns, it was heavily restored between 1857 and 1861 by the architect Edoardo Arborio Mella of Vercelli, at the wish of Bishop Luigi Nazari di Calabiana.
What to see
The gabled façade, of sandstone and brick, is adorned with two- and three-light windows and framed by two thirteenth-century spired bell towers; it was rebuilt during the nineteenth-century restorations. On the two columns beside the entrance stand copies of the statues of King Liutprand and Queen Theodelinda: the originals are inside. Behind the façade is the narthex, a large atrium covered by arches of sandstone and brick that cross in parallel pairs, unusual in this area. Similar constructions are found in Armenia and Georgia, and scholars have put forward more than one hypothesis about its origin. The restorations completed in 2001 brought back to light the decorations hidden by the plaster.
From the narthex you go down a few steps and enter the five aisles, narrow, covered by barrel and cross vaults, with a women's gallery of three- and four-light openings. From the triumphal arch hangs a crucifix more than two metres high, a triumphant Christ clad in silver sheet, with the crown and the loincloth in copper: it stood in the old cathedral of San Pietro in Alessandria, and in 1403 the mercenary captain Facino Cane carried it off, together with the relics of St Evasius. The patron's relics are in the elliptical chapel dedicated to him, designed in the eighteenth century by Benedetto Alfieri, with the vault frescoed by Giovanni Battista Ronchelli. In the sacristy corridor you can see the mosaics that were part of the floor before Mella's restorations: among the subjects, Jonah swallowed by the fish and a chimera.
Visiting
Opening times and the times of services should be checked with the cathedral. From the chapel of Sant'Evasio starts the route called «Sacrestia Aperta»: it passes through the former sacristy, where goldsmiths' work and textiles are displayed, and reaches the sacristy, which houses a small picture gallery with a Baptism of Jesus by Gaudenzio Ferrari.
Our editors' tip
Look for the small column marked with the monogram of Christ: according to tradition it shows the spot where St Evasius was martyred, and it is said that if you put your ear to it you can hear the saint's blood flowing. The patron's feast falls on 12 November.
