Santa Maria Maggiore arose between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries where it still stands, and was the first parish church inside the walls of Racconigi. By the early eighteenth century the population had outgrown it and, in open rivalry with the nearby San Giovanni, which was also being rebuilt, the parishioners handed the rebuilding to the architect Carlo Antonio Castelli.
What to see
Castelli drew design after design, changing them to suit the needs of the town and above all the scarce funds available; the final version passed under the eyes of Filippo Juvarra, who suggested a few slight changes. The site opened in 1725 and the church was finished in 1727, but the solemn consecration came only in 1777. The plan is rectangular, a single nave with eight side chapels and a deep circular apse; the light comes from high on the walls, from the apse and from the base of the dome.
Visiting
The barrel vault is marked out by large frescoed medallions in stucco frames, and to the stucco and gilding are added the frescoes of Paolo Emilio Morgari. The eight chapels, four to a side, hold no masterpieces, with one exception: the Souls in Purgatory painted in 1704 by Sante Prunati of Verona, in the chapel of the Suffragio. What is remarkable instead are the marble frames around all the images, and the sacristy, with stuccoes, wooden furnishings and paintings partly from the medieval church of the Servi di Maria, demolished in 1820.
Our editors' tip
Near the entrance, on the left, stands an eighteenth-century wooden counter that Racconigi calls the Panchino delle Anime: the Compagnia del Suffragio used it to collect subscriptions and contributions. It is a piece of furniture, not a work of art, and for that very reason it shows how a town parish actually worked.