The duomo is the most important church in Carignano, dedicated to Saints John the Baptist and Remigius, and it faces the old market square, opposite the town hall. In 1755 the town council resolved to pull down the old civic church and build a new one to a design by Benedetto Alfieri. The site took seven years, from the laying of the first stone in 1757 to the consecration of 1764 by cardinal delle Lanze; in between, Alfieri submitted a second project, which became the definitive one.
What to see
Alfieri overturns a few conventions. The front is concave, and as soon as you enter by the main door you see all the altars at once: the hall has a single nave with six chapels, three on each side of the presbytery, under a monumental ring vault. Among the works are the marble high altar by Andrea Rossi and Francesco Bottinelli, the four large statues of the doctors of the Church made in 1764 by Carlo Giuseppe Bollina, the organ case carved in 1771 by the local craftsman Giuseppe Antonio Riva, and the high relief of God the Father blessing with the town's patron saints, by Giovanni Battista Bernero.
Visiting
Some furnishings were saved from the old Gothic parish church, and one deserves attention: the wooden counter-altar, which shows a glimpse of the old town and of the castle later demolished. It is the only image of what Carignano used to look like. The interior frescoes came late: they were entrusted only in 1879 to Emanuele Appendini, author of the Last Judgement and of the paintings on the vaults of some chapels.
Our editors' tip
The bell tower shows how hard it is to finish a church. At first a small one was raised, carrying the signal bell; in 1833 funds were collected to heighten it, with no result; and only in 1932 did work begin on the neo-baroque tower you see today. Alfieri, who died in 1767, saw almost none of it.