Chiesa di San Sebastiano

The Chiesa di San Sebastiano (Church of St Sebastian, now the cemetery chapel) can be dated, on the basis of the prevalently Gothic style of the interior, to the late 14th-early 15th century.

This church was probably a parish church, fulfilling the usual functions as such. It is structured with three small cross-vaulted naves with a presbytery which is a prolongation of the central nave beyond the sanctuary arch.

The fresco on the vault of the presbytery, painted between 1440 and 1450, is considered to be an outstanding work by Guglielmetto Fantini, a painter from Chieri.

The frescoes, painted between the first half of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th, must originally have covered the entire internal walls. It was an artist by the name of Antonius de Manzaniis who painted the great fresco of the Crucifixion, which is on the wall at the back of the presbytery, and which is clearly distinguished from the paintings on the vault, whose style recalls the works of artists from the Germanic area – a link which can be readily explained by the numerous contacts between Chieri and the markets of Northern Europe.

In the nave on the left, which preserves its painted decorations almost intact, is the painting of the twelve apostles and a long line of saints, attributed to the “Revigliasco Master of the Apostles”, while the frescoes on the last span on the same side are devoted to the martyrdom of Sts Stephen and Laurence.

Among the many other paintings, one is particularly splendid and of great importance: this is a Nativity of 1508 by Jacopino Longo, the first surviving dated work of this artist., and is on the opposite (right-hand) façade. The Church of St Sebastian has recently been restored through the intervention of the municipal administration.