This basilica’s 1000th birthday has both been and gone. What we see today is a Baroque masterpiece, with its majestic neoclassical façade opening onto one of the most beautiful squares in the old town centre, home to 17th and 18th century works of art (including paintings by Carlone, De Ferrari and Piola and wooden statues by Maragliano). ‘Vigne’, in Italian, means vineyards, although ancient buildings with frescoed façades have replaced those prosperous medieval vineyards. The church itself now looks remarkably different compared to those times. Only the external side façades made of black stone with a Romanesque decorative arcade, or Lombard band, and the wonderful 56-metre-tall bell tower have survived. The belfry is just tall enough for its stone tip to tower over the roofs of the old city centre. Oddly enough, the bell tower was built astride of the alley separating the church from its millennial cloister, where the Italian Catholic Scouts were founded in 1913. Beneath the archway onto which the bell tower was built, history enthusiasts will certainly notice the carved tomb of Anselmo d’Incisa, physician to Pope Boniface VIII and to King Philippe II of France. On the opposite side of the church, above the side entrance, is a fresco of the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus holding up a bunch of grapes. A permanent exhibition illustrates the centuries-old history of the church and of the neighbouring abbey complex.
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