Information about Bianze in the Province of Vercelli
Bianzè, anciently named Blanzatum, derives its name form Blandius, the leader of a Roman colony, who left a votive altar to Jupiter. Its square plant and the moat signal the ancient walls and the ramparts. During the following centuries Bianzè moved from one dominium to the next, until it became part of the Savoy state in 1631. Its contribution to the Independence wars was decisive and in 1859 the surrounding countryside was flooded to stop the Austrian troops reaching Turin.
During the XVIII century there were as many as fourteen churches in Bianzè. Amongst them, the parish church is very ancient and precious and it is dedicated to Saint Eusebius, bishop of Vercelli. It is built in the Gothic style and it was modified several times. The main nave was built in 1680-81, the choir in 1776, the façade in 1779 and the stuccoes and paintings were made in 1845. The inside is divided into three naves with three altars made of precious marbles. The pulpit, the baptistery, the priests’ seat, the choir stalls, the vestry ambries, the confessional of the small vestry and many frames were built by the artisans of the Tempio di Mortigliengo during seven years, at the end of the Seventeenth century. Also the late Romanic bell tower is noteworthy. It was risen and restructured in 1685 and it was also used as a lookout tower.
In the parish there are several art works; the restored Madonna del Suffragio and two Saint bishops by Ottaviano Cane, fourteen paintings on wood by Defendente Ferrari which represents Saint Gothard, Saint Martin, Saint Agatha and Saint’Apollonia. It is nearly certain that these were the protecting panels of the big Polyptich of Bianze, which is now kept in the Borgogna Museum of Vercelli. There are also a triptych attributed to the school of Giovennone, representing the Virgin and Child, Saint Bernardino and another character, coming from the Madonna di Tabbi, and a cryptic coming from the “Misericordia” of Defendente Ferrari, representing the Pietà, Saint Anthony and Saint Lucy.
Not far there is the church of Saint Maria dei Tabbi, built by the local Brotherhood of the Blessed Sacrament in 1625, using blocks of the ancient fortifications to fulfil a vow made by Bianzè population to be freed from the tabe (consumption) illness. The church has seven beautiful altars from the XVII- XVIII centuries, donated by the village noble families. Inside there are also two paintings which are supposed to have been done by the school of Bernardino Lanino and representing Saint Bernarndino and the Depositino.
It is also worth visiting the church of the Holy Trinity Brotherhood, erected in 1550 and originally dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and the church of the Virgin’s Nativity, now Brotherhood of Mercy, the interior of which is characterized by three precious altars, the main one of which is made of marble and comes from the church of the Orsoline nuns convent destroyed in 1801. Since 1611 the great cloister of the Orsoline nuns of the Saint Angela Merigi Congregation has moved to the grand Town Hall Palace.
The monastery was at first run by the daughters of the famous painter Guglielmo Caccia named the Moncalvo and was then closed in 1801. The building was sold and reopened to the public only in 1860. The façade was redecorated in the fascist period, whilst the interior maintained the original architectural characteristics.
In the Carpeneto hamlet there is a farm named del Castello (n.d.t “of the castle”) which conserves the foundations and some remains of the ancient parish church whose origins date back to 1438 – 1458.
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