ABBEY OF St. STEFANO
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ABBEY OF St. STEFANO |
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The only architectural element of the homonymous abbatial complex we can see is the belltower which rises in the area of the public garden. The area is where the Romans built up the sandbanks coming down from the dioritic hills. In some points of this plan there was the “ Petra mali consili” which marked the place of “mallo”, an open and ample area where there was the legal meeting of men who could bring their arms. This place expanded itself “ante ecclesiam Sancti Stephani” which probably existed also in the V century. On the right, beyond the walls, there was “Albeto” district, a parish territory of St. Stefano inhabited principally by the weavers. Also before 1000, this territory, was probably crossed by a canal that progressively increased in low, probably the present Naviglio.
In the first half of the XI century
there were 2 important episcopal initiatives: the building of a new defensive
“screen” towards east and the setting of a Benedictine abbey on the south-east
end. We don’t know exactly the reasons for the benedictine monks’ settlement in Ivrea, we can guess it was the need to drain the marshy and
woody left bank of the Dora. The abbatial complex ensured a constant vigilance in this
point of the city, besides, with its perimeter of solid walls on the river, it
represented a very difficult obstacle to overcome. The bell tower was principally a
structure for watching and communication and, when needed, of defence, ready to call with
the sound of its bells, the people to the prayer and the arms. The Cluniac religious
group, coming from Fruttuaria, worked in the ample abbatial complex founded by
Bishop Enrico II in an ancient chapel dedicated to St. Stefano (1041). In this period the
abbey saw the presence of many monks and it flourished considerably
On the 10th January 1451 Pope Niccolò V decided to allow the
Duke Ludovico di Savoia the designation of trusty men to
become official titular of benefits not yet assigned. The Piedmontese abbey became
populated by the Savoia’s relatives and friends with negative reflections on the
spiritual level of the religious institutions. S. Stefano monastery fell into the Ferreri’s (or Ferrero) hands, a family from Biella who kept, for one century, the Episcopal title and St. Stefano’s priorate, also by proxy. The Ferreri’s Priorates coincided with the abbey’s material decay. In 1544 the city, under the control of the Spanish, fell into the hands of Carlo Cossè de Brissac, the French viceroy, who, in order to reinforce the city defenses toward the river, decided to pull down the church. In 1561 the Monks adapted the chapel for themselves near the bell-tower. In 1579, since the eastern external outskirts no longer existed (they had been destroyed by the Spanish, because they were a profitable passage for the enemy), nor did the parish church, (which was destroyed by de Brissac) St. Stefano’s parish was suppressed and joined with St. Lorenzo’s one. The abbot Augusto Filiberto Scaglia di Verrua (1671-1697) built the fourth church of St. Stefano. Now, from the point of view of spirituality, the monastery was strongly impoverished, and remained instead, as a producer of profits which flowed as rents and food (corn, pulses, grapes, hens). When the abbot Scaglia died, the abbey remained vacant for 31 years managed by the “Camera dei Conti” of Turin. In this period it was a company let out on contract to the best bidder. The tenant farmer took all the monastical complex, including the church with furniture, archives, farmstead, and he ran it by paying the salary to the vicar of St. Lorenzo and to the priests who celebrated the mass in the church of SS. Pietro e Donato and in the abbey's church. In March 1709, the Count and Senator Beraudo di Pralormo came to Ivrea, as a delegate from the "Camera dei Conti". He drew up an account about the necessary repairs for the cathedral, for the episcopal benefits and for the abbey of St. Stefano, since during the French siege it served as a barrackand a warehouse. The war damages were repaired. The “Camera dei Conti” had to face up to a new emergency, because the archive of the abbey, containing very important documents was locked and nobody knew how to find it, moreover a lot of documents had been devoured by mice. A lot of tenants and debtors took advantage to avoid payment to make opposition or to usurp lands. When, in 1721 workers went into a room turned towards the “Porta grande”, here, they found a piece of furniture in which there where books and acts torn up by rats, so much so that,on the floor there where a lot of finely torn up fragments. The documents were extracted one by one with care, and the fragments were sealed in a sack,in order to inventory every piece.
In 1726, the engineer Castelli, designer and director of the works of the new warehouse leaning to the belfry, started the measurements of a series of restoration works of the abbey (replacement of the main beam, rebuilding of the covers, installation of glasses and grilles and a partial remaking of the belfry plants). In 1743 Gaspare Amedeo St. Martino della Torre was elected clergyman, and thanks to him the archives reordering took place. From 1747 to 1757, the clergyman sold the remaining buildings of the monastery, except for the belfry and the warehouse, to the earl Carlo Francesco Baldessarre Perrone di St. Martino, who destroyed them to make his garden bigger. In the place of the church, sold and destroyed, the clergyman changed the warehouse next to the belfry, into the fifth St. Stephen’s church. When the clergyman of St. Martino died, the abbey was empty for one year, then Carlo Ballard di Roccafranca came, but he died in 1788. After 8 years and 8 months cardinal Gerdil took his place thanks to power of attorney, but in 1880 it was swallowed by the French republican governement. In 1885, the church was given to the Lazzaretto, in case of an epidemic. In the meantime, another building was added to the east side of the church, housing an electric workshop on the ground floor (1892) and later a hostelry. In 1898, the last church of St. Stephen was destroyed. Owing to the adornment of the public gardens, only the belfry was kept. |
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