San Germano Vercellese in the Province of Vercelli
This is an important centre for the production of rice and is situated along the ancient via francigena. San Germano’s history is often confused with legends. It seems that in 448 the bishop Saint Germain of Auxerre, on his way to Ravenna to meet the empress Galla Placidia, went through this primitive group of houses and sat on a stone at the entrance of the village. When the bishop died in Ravenna, his body was brought back to France through the same road and, as it went through the village, many miracles happened.
An oratory was built in his honour and the village took his name. In piazza Mazzini there is the parish of Saint Germain, the building of which dates back to 1754-60 and was built by Michele Richiardi on the design of Giovan Battista Feroggio. The ancient parish, crumbling and already quoted in a 1298 document, was destroyed in the eighteenth century to make place for the new parish, consecrated in 1764.
This is a typical example of Piedmont baroque, where the influence of neoclassical style and the triumph of rationality are already obvious. The façade surface is divided into simplified geometrical compartments, so that everything is clear and systematic.
In the upper part there are three mosaics: in the centre Saint Germain d’Auxerre, patron of the village; on the left the Blessed Anthony, a Dominican who was born in San Germano in1934; on the left the Blessed Guido De Spatis, a Franciscan who was born in San Germano in the XIII century.
The elliptical dome which rises from the tall façade is a work of Vittone. The interior, based on a rectangular layout and with only one nave, is very harmonic and is decorated with several golden stuccoes, manly on the apse walls. The main altar and the six side altars, three on the left and three on the right, are surmounted by splendid paintings representing some saints. The majestic organ is a work of the Serassi and it dates back to 1775, according to some sources, or to 1795, according to others.
On the left side of the church rises the sixteenth century church of Corpus Christi, deeply modified and presently used as a meeting room. The Romanic church of the Holy Trinity collapsed in 1951 and the only part left is the lowered bell tower. In piazza Mazzini, in front of the parish, there is the house of Giuseppe Deabate (1857 – 1928), local hero, journalist and poet, who wrote the collection of poems “Il mio villaggio” (N.d.T. My village). The building is an interesting nineteenth century construction with decorated stones and pitched frieze, reminding one of a mountain house. A few steps away there is the little square entitled to Dante Alighieri, where the massive bell tower rises, one of the two towers of the ancient castle.
Once back on the road n. 11, after the farm Strella on the left, you’ll cross the village of Casciné Strà, once known as Capsinae Straptarum, a name which signals the importance of this place along the main communication road.
Round the year 1159 here was founded a hospital for pilgrims entitles to Saint James the apostle, thanks to the donations of several noble families of Vercelli, amongst which are the Bicchieri. The existing church of Saint James was rebuilt in 1737 on the ruins of an ancient church and of the hospital itself. One kilometre further there is a small road on the left, which leads to the hamlet Monotnero, where a very old parish stands, maybe of Benedictine origins, then owned by the Canons of Saint Eusebius from the XII century and dedicated to Saint Clement.
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