Uno degli edifici religiosi più importanti non solo della città di Saluzzo, ma della Provincia Granda è la Chiesa di San Giovanni .
Si trova nel centro storico cittadino, dietro il Palazzo comunale e la Torre Civica.
Eretta inizialmente come cappella da una coppia di devoti nel 1200, la Chiesa di San Giovanni dal 1330 divenne sede dell Ordine dei Domenicani che l'ampliarono e riprogettarono facendola diventare un punto di riferimento nel Marchesato.
In questo modo divenne luogo di rappresentanza dei Marchesì di Saluzzo, nonchè sede di sepoltura della dinastia, come testimonia la cappella sepolcrale Cappella Cavassa, accessibile dal chiostro, che custodisce l’eccezionale cenotafio di Ludovico II, capolavoro realizzato in gotico fiammeggiante.
Nel corso dei secoli la chiesa fu oggetto di diversi cambiamenti: ne venne cambiato l'orientamento dell'ingresso, ampliate le dimensioni a 3 navate, eretto il campanile e creato un primo chiostro triangolare di cui rimane testimonianza l'accesso ad arco a sesto acuto con cornici e ghiere in cotto nella via laterale.
Dopo la soppressione dell'ordine Domenicano per mano delle autorità napoleoniche agli inizi dell'Ottocento, la Chiesa di San Giovanni venne restituita al Vescono che, nel 1829, la affidò alle cure dei frati dell'ordine dei Servi di Maria che ancora oggi la custodiscono.
L'esterno del complesso si presenta con una facciata a salienti semplice e talmente spoglia da apparire incompiuta, così come è stata rimaneggiata alla fine del 1300 quando è stato variato l'orientamento della chiesa.
E' arricchita solamente da un grande affresco raffigurante San Cristoforo dipinto nel 1929 da Ovidio Fonti prendendo ispirazione da quello quattrocentesco della Parrocchiale di Rossana.
Il campanile, eretto nel 1376, ha base quadrata e si eleva per cinque piani delimitati da da lesene e contrafforti angolari e da altrettanti ordini di monofore, ad eccezione dell'ultimo, in cui si trovano finestre bifore.
Il campanile si conclude con una cuspide ottagonale a quattro pinnacoli sormontata dal gallo segnatempo.
Il giorno del solstizio d'inverno il campanile della Chiesa di San Giovanni è coinvolto da evento eccezionale: su di esso si può ammirare fenomeno della perfetta sovrapposizione dell’ombra della Torre Civica.
Non ci sono riscontri storici che indichino se questi giochi di ombre siano voluti o meno, ma è noto che la conoscenza esoterica nel Quattrocento è stata applicata anche in architetture e opere artistiche del marchesato di Saluzzo.
Church of San Giovanni - Saluzzo
One of the most important religious buildings not only of the city of Saluzzo, but of the entire Provincia Granda is the Church of San Giovanni.
This place of prayer, a splendid example of Italian Gothic architecture, until 1501, the date of the construction of the Cathedral, was the main church of Saluzzo.
It is located in the historic city center, behind the Town Hall and the Civic Tower.
Originally built as a chapel by a couple of devotees in the 1200s, the Church of San Giovanni from 1330 became the seat of the Order of Dominicans who enlarged and redesigned it into a reference point in the Marquisate.
In this way it became a place of representation of Saluzzo Marquises, as well as burial place of the dynasty, as evidenced by the Cavassa chapel, accessible from the cloister, which houses the exceptional cenotaph of Ludovico II, a masterpiece realized in flamboyant Gothic.
Over the centuries the church underwent several changes: the orientation of the entrance was changed, the dimensions were enlarged to 3 naves, the bell tower was erected and was created a first triangular cloister, of which remains only a pointed arch access with frames and terracotta rings placed in a side street.
After the suppression of the Dominican order, by the hand of the Napoleonic authorities at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Church of San Giovanni was returned to the bishop who, in 1829, entrusted it to the care of the friars of the order of the Servants of Mary who still guard it today .
The exterior of the complex has a simple salient façade that appears unfinished like it was remodeled at the end of the 1300s when the orientation of the church was changed.
It is enriched only by a large fresco depicting St. Christopher painted in 1929 by Ovidio Fonti, who took inspiration from the fifteenth century one place in the Parish of Rossana.
The bell tower, erected in 1376, has a square base and rises for five floors delimited by angular pilasters and buttresses and by as many single-light windows, with the exception of the last floor, where there are mullioned windows.
The bell tower ends with an octagonal spire with four pinnacles.
On the day of the winter solstice the bell tower of the Church of San Giovanni is involved in an exceptional event: on it we can admire the phenomenon of the perfect superimposition of the shadow of the Civic Tower.
There is no historical evidence to indicate whether these plays of shadows were desired or not by the architects, but it is known that the esoteric knowledge in the fifteenth century was also applied in the architecture and works of art in the Saluzzo Marquisate.
One of the most important religious buildings not only of the city of Saluzzo, but of the entire Provincia Granda is the Church of San Giovanni.
This place of prayer, a splendid example of Italian Gothic architecture, until 1501, the date of the construction of the Cathedral, was the main church of Saluzzo.
It is located in the historic city center, behind the Town Hall and the Civic Tower.
Originally built as a chapel by a couple of devotees in the 1200s, the Church of San Giovanni from 1330 became the seat of the Order of Dominicans who enlarged and redesigned it into a reference point in the Marquisate.
In this way it became a place of representation of Saluzzo Marquises, as well as burial place of the dynasty, as evidenced by the Cavassa chapel, accessible from the cloister, which houses the exceptional cenotaph of Ludovico II, a masterpiece realized in flamboyant Gothic.
Over the centuries the church underwent several changes: the orientation of the entrance was changed, the dimensions were enlarged to 3 naves, the bell tower was erected and was created a first triangular cloister, of which remains only a pointed arch access with frames and terracotta rings placed in a side street.
After the suppression of the Dominican order, by the hand of the Napoleonic authorities at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Church of San Giovanni was returned to the bishop who, in 1829, entrusted it to the care of the friars of the order of the Servants of Mary who still guard it today .
The exterior of the complex has a simple salient façade that appears unfinished like it was remodeled at the end of the 1300s when the orientation of the church was changed.
It is enriched only by a large fresco depicting St. Christopher painted in 1929 by Ovidio Fonti, who took inspiration from the fifteenth century one place in the Parish of Rossana.
The bell tower, erected in 1376, has a square base and rises for five floors delimited by angular pilasters and buttresses and by as many single-light windows, with the exception of the last floor, where there are mullioned windows.
The bell tower ends with an octagonal spire with four pinnacles.
On the day of the winter solstice the bell tower of the Church of San Giovanni is involved in an exceptional event: on it we can admire the phenomenon of the perfect superimposition of the shadow of the Civic Tower.
There is no historical evidence to indicate whether these plays of shadows were desired or not by the architects, but it is known that the esoteric knowledge in the fifteenth century was also applied in the architecture and works of art in the Saluzzo Marquisate.
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