Press release The city’s churches are treasure troves Find out with Compagnia di San Paolo The restoration site of the Church of Santa Chiara opens its doors to the public From 30th September, the Church of Santa Chiara - after the restoration of the Cappella dei Mercanti e Banchieri and the Church of SS. Trinità - opens the doors of its worksite to citizens (entrance in piazzetta della Visitazione): with free guided tours citizens can get a privileged glimpse of the heritage undergoing restoration. The visits are part of the project promoted by the Compagnia di San Paolo to spread knowledge of the religious architectural heritage of Turin and the awareness of how important sacred buildings and the art works kept inside are within the cultural offer of the city . Guided tours of the restoration site of the church of Santa Chiara will take place on Friday afternoons (30th September, 7th and 14th October) at 4pm and 5pm and on the "open day": Saturday, October 8th , from 10 to 6pm . The tours, scheduled for groups of up to 12 participants, must be booked by email at [email protected], indicating the number of people, day and time preferred and telephone number. The visit, lasting about 45 minutes, provides a historical introduction on the ground and a subsequent climb up the scaffolding via a comfortable stairway for a close up look at the work in progress. Participants must wear trousers and flat, rubber-soled closed shoes. They will be asked to fill in a form accepting regulations for a safe visit. On site they will be equipped with a safety helmet. Information on the Church of Santa Chiara The present church of Santa Chiara, previously part of the convent of the Poor Clares, lies on a much older foundation: placed in the current area at the latest in the fifteenth century, behind the medieval walls, with the church already on the corner of two streets, the monastery gradually expanded over the centuries to incorporate the entire block at the end of the eighteenth century. Extensions gradually cancelled older traces of buildings, including the early church, which between 1742 and 1746 was rebuilt from the ground up. Except for some amendments and additions, the eighteenth-century church corresponds to the current one. The project created by Bernardo Vittone (1705-1770) has nothing to envy the probably far more modest building it replaced. It is one of the architect’s most important projects in Turin; we know from drawings and engravings that he had prepared no fewer than three different variants for the church. As is the norm for women's convent churches, Vittone’s building consists in two distinct parts: the public church, an intimate space with a central plan, and the spacious chancel for cloistered nuns, where the architect proved his expertise in creating, bright living spaces suitable for everyday life. In actual fact the two spaces have different objectives and purposes. The public church did not need to be large, or to host a whole community, as in the case of parish churches. Vittone thus gives it a centralized form, with a strong vertical development and a dome set on four pierced pillars. Thanks to this considerable vertical development the church picks up a light that is at times intense, which spreads downward evenly and suffused through the numerous openings. Even the symbolic value of this light is emphasized by a number of cartouches in stucco at the level of the dome, where with emblems and Latin mottos the concept of claritas is developed: and so the brightness, fame, and name of the saint to whom the church is dedicated ideally coincide. But the church is only half the battle: two modern ports, replacing openings once protected by metal grilles, provide access to the cloistered nuns chancel. Though the church was inaccessible to the nuns, the chancel was a place of daily life for them, and Vittone makes it double in height, placing it among lodges and elegant balconies, which turn it almost into a covered square. The initiative is the corollary of the important restoration campaign of the old town churches largely achieved thanks to the support of Compagnia di San Paolo, which since 2000 has invested around €20 million. These initiatives are part of the broader framework of setting up an urban cultural district that can strengthen the dialogue between the system of museums, the places for the production of culture and the most valuable religious architecture that host works of art of extraordinary value. For information: edificisacri.compagniadisanpaolo.it Compagnia di San Paolo Communication and Media Daniela Gonella Tel. 011.5596982, e-mail: [email protected], Cell. 3475221195