Towards the end of the 15th century Chieri had approximately ten thousand inhabitants as opposed to four thousand in Turin. The earnings from multiple economic activities were used to finance the construction of the new city, which was tinged with the red and brown of terracotta, with stamped designs of Leggi tutto…
In the late middle ages Chieri was a prosperous municipality with a territory which included Asti, Moncalieri and Turin. It was controlled via a series of castles and a web of political connections precociously integrated into the Savoy-Acaia state (1347). The patrimony of medieval art therefore saw a profound re-visitation Leggi tutto…
Assistance to the poor, the ill and to orphans was left to the Christian charity of private citizens and to the hospital orders. In some towns the poor were received in small hospitals, which later joined to become the Ospedale Maggiore (the general hospital). The “House of Alms” also took Leggi tutto…
Chieri cultural heritage of the late Middle Ages between the Gothic and Renaissance period is impressive, notwithstanding huge losses. It begins with the extraordinary cycle of the Story of the life of Christ painted in the baptistery of the collegiate church of Santa Maria della Scala (Duomo) by Guglielmetto Fantini, Leggi tutto…
Between the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century, precious reliquaries were commissioned for the Cathedral, which for five centuries thereafter constituted the “Treasure of the Cathedral”. On the initiative of the canon Enrico Rampart, works of the highest quality by Flemish artists arrived in Leggi tutto…
The first half of the XVI century was for the Savoy State one of their darkest periods. Chieri was often involved in wars: occupied by the French and then by the Imperial Forces, it was recaptured in 1551 by French troops led by General Brissac, who reinforced the walls, the Leggi tutto…
Chieri returned to Piedmont in 1562. Emanuele Filiberto reduced the medieval privileges and the jurisdiction of the town. In compensation however, his protectionist measures boosted textile manufacturing and the entire economy of Chieri. With a view to Emanuele Filiberto’s visit to Chieri in 1580. “L’Arco di Piazza” (the Arch of Leggi tutto…
Due to the protagonism of Duke Carlo Emanuele 1, the first half of the XVII century was a period of continuous military mobilizations and serious economic crises. Furthermore there was famine and plague.The latter arrived in Chieri at the end of June and it reached its maximum virulence between July Leggi tutto…
In the second half of the century the economy in Chieri did not improve, partly as a consequence of the demographic collapse following the plague and also due to foreign competition. It resisted thanks to the protectionist measures confirmed by the ducal Government. In spite of these factors, Chieri experienced Leggi tutto…
The first decades of the century in Chieri are dominated by the so called late-Manierism period of the painter Moncalvo and other painters of his school, such as Orsola Caccia, Giovanni Crosio, Francesco Fea and Cerutti-Fea brothers. Beginning in the 1930’s, the paintings that can be seen in the churches Leggi tutto…