San Leonardo commands the town from the top of the Villanuova hill. The ancient parish stood further uphill, but the wars of the seventeenth century and a series of landslides that undermined its stability made it necessary to rebuild on the present site. Work began in 1682, under the Lugano master builder Stefano Melchioni; by 1691 the bell tower was finished and in 1694 the church was opened for worship.
What to see
It has undergone no radical transformation, which makes it an excellent example of Piedmontese baroque. The wooden choir dates from 1656 and comes from the earlier building. The presbytery frescoes were painted in 1766 by Carlo Gorzio of Moncalvo and Antonio de Carvalho of Lisbon; also by Gorzio are the monumental altarpiece with the Madonna, Saint Leonard and Clovis, of 1754, and the sumptuous frescoes of the nave vault, retouched last century by the local painter Giovanni Olindo. The high altar and the balustrade are by the Asti marble worker of Ticino origin Giacomo Pelagatta.
Visiting
The church holds a series of works by Giancarlo Aliberti, the painter from Canelli: the Madonna of the Rosary, made for the confraternity of that name, the Pentecost for the confraternity of the Holy Spirit, the Epiphany for the Sardi family, the altarpiece of Saint James for the Ravazza family chapel, and a Saint Roch among the plague-stricken that stood in the confraternity of the same name. They are separate commissions, and lined up they tell the story of the town's associative life.
Our editors' tip
It should be said plainly: the church shows conspicuous decay in its frescoes and furnishings. That is one more reason to go now and look carefully, but also not to expect the polished effect of a freshly restored building. The setting, on the other hand, remains spectacular.