Discover Cattedrale di San Lorenzo, Alba

The cattedrale di San Lorenzo is the principal Catholic place of worship in Alba and the mother church of the diocese of the same name. It stands in the historic centre, on piazza Risorgimento.

The present cathedral was built between 1486 and 1517 at the will of the bishop of Alba, Andrea Novelli. Taking possession of the diocese in 1483, he had found the cathedral in a strong state of degradation and promoted its reconstruction.

Of the ancient church — already existing in the 11th century — only the bell tower, the three portals and the portico of the facade, and the crypt were kept. The other parts were unsafe and were demolished.

The building is in Gothic style, faced in small red bricks, and has a notable series of aesthetic and architectural resemblances to the contemporary Duomo di Chieri — partly in its Romanesque-Gothic structure, but above all in the interior decoration: the horizontal banding of walls and pillars, the same lobed pillars, and the blue of the cross vaults.

This is a Gothic church of red brick, and the record describes it as Gothic-Lombard in character, noting that it has undergone many remodellings that altered its original layout. Reading it means separating the layers.

The 11th-century survivals are the oldest fabric: tower, three portals, facade portico, crypt.

The 1486–1517 rebuilding gave the church its present body — three naves of four bays with a deep transept at the fourth, and the facade divided into three by square pilasters answering the naves behind.

The Tridentine adjustments after 1577 and 1584 were liturgical rather than structural, and fell mostly on the presbytery.

The 1652 vault replaced what two earthquakes brought down in 1626.

The 1867–1872 campaign is what a visitor actually sees most of: Edoardo Arborio Mella's design, the rose window of 1870, the starry vaults, the fresco apparatus from 1871, and the facade sculpture of 1878.

The decorative vocabulary — horizontal banding, lobed pillars, blue cross vaults — is what ties it to the Duomo di Chieri.

The rebuilding of 1486 was a demolition decision as much as a construction one, and the record is precise about what was spared.

Kept: the bell tower (13th-century, already modified in 1477, just before the works), the three portals, the portico of the facade, and the crypt.

Demolished: everything else, because it was pericolante — unsafe.

Built, 1486–1517: the three-naved body, the transept, the facade structure.

Rebuilt, 1652: the central nave vault, after the 1626 earthquakes.

Reworked, 1867–1878: design by Arborio Mella; direction by Giorgio Busca, then by the engineer Giuseppe Ferria who finished the facade in 1878. The rose window was cut in 1870, which means a hole was made in a facade that had stood for three and a half centuries.

Added, 2007–2009: the new presbytery, placed below rather than within the old one.

Is it true the facade spells ALBA? Yes. The four evangelist symbols of 1878, read from the left in traditional order, are the Angelo of Matthew, the Leone of Mark, the Bue of Luke and the Aquila of John — A, L, B, A. They are by Carlo Dusio.

How old is the cathedral? The present building is of 1486–1517, but a cathedral was already here in the 11th century, and four parts of it survive: the bell tower, the three portals, the facade portico and the crypt.

Who rebuilt it? Bishop Andrea Novelli, who took the diocese in 1483 and found the cathedral badly degraded.

Is the rose window original? No. It was opened in 1870, replacing the central single-light window.

Why does it look like the Duomo di Chieri? The record notes the resemblance directly — in the Romanesque-Gothic structure, and especially in the horizontal banding, the lobed pillars and the blue cross vaults.

What happened in 1626? Two earthquakes brought down the cross vault of the central nave. It was replaced in 1652.

Is there an admission charge? None is given. It is the working cathedral of the diocese of Alba.