Il monastic complex of Sant’Antonio di Ranverso in Rosta, near Turin, on the stretch of the Via Francigena between Rivoli and Avigliana, at the entrance of the Val di Susa, is one of the most famous examples of international Gothic.
In a well-preserved natural setting, the architectural complex of Piedmont still appears perfectly recognizable today in its original composition, including not only the church, the monastery (with an attached cloister still preserved), the hospital (of which only the remarkable façade with crow-stepped gable and pinnacles remains intact), where the Antonine monks provided care to patients suffering from the so-called St. Anthony’s fire (or ignis sacris), as well as an intricate system of farmhouses. In the 13th and 14th centuries the Abbey underwent many expansions and renovations and towards the end of the 1400s it was enriched with fine terracotta decorations shaped with designs of flowers and fruit, on the entrance arches and on the façade of the Hospital.
Also from the 15th century are the wonderful frescoes by Giacomo Jaquerio who decorated the interior of the Church. The high altar is surmounted by the splendid polyptych by Defendente Ferrari made in 1531 commissioned by the Community of Moncalieri. The Antonines ceased their activity at the Abbey in 1776 when the ownership of the complex, with its agricultural dependencies, passed to the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus. The complex is still the property of the Maurizian Order Foundation today.
