Description
Overlooking one of the most picturesque squares in the heart of Asti, in the San Martino–San Rocco district, stands the Church of San Martino.
The present building was constructed in 1707 on the site of an earlier medieval church. For centuries, it was entrusted to the Barnabite Fathers, who administered it until 1987.
The elegant façade is articulated by two tiers of pilasters with Composite capitals and crowned by a curved pediment framed by eighteenth-century scrolls. At its centre stands a marble statue of Saint Martin by the Asti sculptor Carlo Francesco Rista.
In the adjoining niches are eighteenth-century statues of Saint Philip and Saint James. They originally came from the Charterhouse of Valmanera, much of which was demolished during the Napoleonic period, and were placed in their present positions during alterations carried out in 1815.
Although the church itself is Baroque, its bell tower remains an important surviving element of the fourteenth-century medieval building.
Inside, the church has a single nave covered by barrel vaulting. At its centre, the space widens to form a Greek-cross plan, surmounted by an octagonal crossing tower and flanked by side chapels. A large area is reserved for the chancel.
The outstanding feature of the interior is the fine series of frescoes by Giancarlo Aliberti, a painter from Canelli, whose work brings the church vividly to life.
Adjoining the church is the former convent, a silent guardian of the religious and cultural heritage of this historic corner of Asti.