Church of St. Mary of Aniceto (chiesa di Santa Maria di Aniceto)

Address 14020 Corsione AT, Italia

Tel 0141 905075

Email info@comune.corsione.at.it

Web Site https://www.comune.corsione.at.it/it/page/la-chiesetta-campestre-intitolata-alla-madonna-dell

Highlights

Country church of very ancient origins.

It was probably built on Roman foundations.

It is already mentioned in a document dated 1295.

Furthermore, it may have been built near a minor castle, now no longer extant.

It stands in a scenic spot overlooking the Valle Versa.

The small country church known as “della Madonna dell'Aniceto”, of very ancient foundation (the oldest document in which it is mentioned is from 1295), was probably built on pre-existing foundations from Roman times.

Indeed, it appears that the minor castle, mentioned several times in archival records, was built opposite this building, whose structure and location leave room for the hypothesis of a building of a religious character.

It is certainly an interesting space for excursions on high ground from which there is an enviable view of the Versa Valley.

It is a very ancient building, as we read in all the sources available to us: the papal bull of December 20, 1156, mentions a castrum eum eapella, an expression used about a hundred years later in a similar document of June 10, 1266.

The deed of June 19, 1295, by which the Chapter of the Cathedral of Asti exchanged with Giacomo de Catena the rights it had in Corsione and Cossombrato, mentions among these properties a plot of land located on a rise called de Nineano cui coherent ecclesia Sanete Marie di Nineano: this is probably the hill of Aniceto, although some doubts remain regarding the toponym.

The building, with the passing of the centuries, began to have maintenance problems; in 1663, and it is a Pastoral Report that attests to this, a hermit appears, a presence about which not many details are known, except that hie degit vitam heremitieam ex per missione Illustrissimi (this is the Bishop) et euram habet diete ecclesie.

There is one detail that may be curious: in the Pastoral Report referred to earlier it is ordered to replace the wooden statue of the Virgin, the simulaerum which is called nimis antiquum et a devotione alienum: it is difficult to imagine what exactly a devotione alienum means, but the statue was replaced, and it was visible until about twenty years ago, when one of the frequent raids by thieves, who gradually deprived the building of its contents, made this statue disappear as well.

During the seventeenth century, the condition of the 'building gradually deteriorated, so much so that in the report of 1695 we read that this building undique ruinas minat, threatens ruin on all sides: in the first part of the next century a real rebuilding work was then carried out, between 1730 and 1749, when we read that this building is in good condition (in omnibus rebus bene se valet).

What remains today of this building, once an object of popular devotion, at least until the first part of the last century?

The charm of an ancient building, rich in history and fascination: until the 1970s it possessed a conspicuous series of votive offerings and was the destination of a procession in the month of September, and then fell into a serious state of neglect.

The building, periodically visited by thieves, today presents an essential and fascinating architectural structure, both for the flavor of history that has also passed through its stones, and for the possibility of sweeping over the entire Versa Valley, enjoying an incomparable spectacle of nature. Absolutely to visit, letting your imagination take you away…. It is worth it!