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 to 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 besides the church, the monastery (with the annexed cloister still preserved), the hospital (of which only the remarkable facade with gable and pinnacles remains intact), where the Antonine monks provided assistance to patients suffering from the so-called Saint Anthony’s fire (or ignis sacris), as well as an elaborate system of farmhouses. In the 13th and 14th centuries, the Abbey underwent many expansions and renovations and at the end of the 1400s it was enriched with exquisite terracotta decorations shaped with designs of flowers and fruit, on the entrance arches and on the facade of the Hospital.
Also from the 1400s are the marvelous frescoes by Giacomo Jaquerio who decorated the interior of the Church. The high altar is overshadowed by the splendid polyptych by Defendente Ferrari executed in 1531 for the commission of the Community of Moncalieri. The Antonines ceased their activity at the Abbey in 1776 when the property of the complex, with its agricultural dependencies, passed to the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus. The complex is still today the property of the Maurizian Order Foundation.
