The church and convent of San Francesco are the most interesting witness of Rivarolo's fifteenth century, but their story begins earlier: the church was consecrated on 10 February 1299 by the Franciscan Alberto Gonzaga, bishop of Ivrea. Popular tradition would have the foundation go back to Francis of Assisi himself.
What to see
The piece that makes it worthwhile is a fresco by Giovanni Martino Spanzotti with the Adoration of the Child, held to be the most important painting in the town. Spanzotti is a name that carries weight in Piedmont: a painter of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century, he is the master in whose workshop Defendente Ferrari trained, and in his panels you can see the moment when Piedmontese painting moves from the Gothic to the new manner.
Visiting
This is not a church you can walk into like the others: the building today houses a private school, so it is best to ask beforehand in town or at the tourist office in piazza Litisetto about access and about the hours when the fresco can be seen.
Our editors' tip
If you have time, line up Rivarolo's three dates: the 1299 of San Francesco, the 1759 of the octagon of San Michele and the 1775 of San Giacomo. Within a few hundred metres you cross five centuries of church architecture, and the difference between the friars' church and the two eighteenth-century ones is easier to grasp on foot than on the page.