A Jacobite Gazetteer - Turin

Chiesa della Gran Madre di Dio

This church is located on the east side of the Po River immediately across the Ponte Vittorio Emanuele from the central section of Turin. The church was built between 1827 and 1831 to thank God for the triumphant return to Turin of King Victor Emanuel I of Sardinia (later King Victor) in 1814. On the frieze below the pediment is a Latin inscription:

ORDO · POPVLVSQVE · TAVRINVS · OB · ADVENTVM · REGIS

The nobility and people of Turin [dedicate this] on account of the return of the king.

In front of the church, in the middle of a busy intersection, stands a statue of King Victor sculpted by Giuseppe Gaggini.¹ The statue was originally commissioned by King Charles Albert of Sardinia and was intended to be placed in Genoa. In 1885 it was placed in its present location.² The statue stands on a high pedestal the base of which is decorated with bronze garlands and the crowned arms of Savoy. On the front of the pedestal is an Italian inscription:

VITTORIO EMANUELE I
RE DI SARDEGNA
RESTITUITO AL SUO POPOLO
IL XX MAGGIO MDCCCXIV
NE CORONAVA
LA FEDELTA' SECOLARE

To the left and right of the stairs up to the church are statues of Faith and Religion sculpted by Carlo Chelli.

The church is open weekdays 7.30 a.m. - 12.00 noon and 4.30 p.m. - 7.00 p.m.; weekends 7.30 a.m. - 1.00 p.m. and 3.30 p.m. - 7.00 p.m.

Notes

¹ Giuseppe Gaggini was born in Genoa in 1791, and died in 1867; he was professor at the Accademia Albertina and in 1841 was named "Royal Sculptor in Marble" by King Charles Albert of Sardinia.

² Enrico Castelnuovo and Marco Rosci, Cultura figurativa e architettonica negli Stati del Re di Sardegna, 1773-1861 (Torino: Città di Torino, 1980), II, 1442.