Church of Santa Teresa

The Church of Santa Teresa, located in the heart of Turin, is a valuable example of Baroque architecture. Founded in 1642 on the initiative of Madama Reale Cristina di Francia for the Carmelite fathers, the church was built using, among other things, the stones of the ancient Porta Marmorea, one of the Roman gates of the city. The initial project is attributed to Andrea Costaguta, but the church was completed by his confrere Alessandro Valperga. The facade, built in 1764 by the architect Carlo Filippo Aliberti, is adorned with the coat of arms of the Archbishop of Turin, Cardinal Giambattista Roero di Pralormo, whose funerary monument is located inside the church. The facade features a lower order with side pilasters and four columns with composite capitals on either side of the entrance portal, surmounted by a lunette tympanum adorned with festoons. The upper order is enriched with columns and pilasters, among which are inserted the statues of Religion and Charity. The interior, in the shape of a Latin cross with a single nave, is characterized by six intercommunicating side chapels, decorated with frescoes and golden stuccoes. The walls of the chapels are covered with faux marble and floral decorations, while the confessionals and the pulpit, made of carved wood, add a touch of grandeur to the environment. Above the entrance portal, on the counter-façade, there is a pipe organ in a late Baroque case, richly decorated. Among the chapels, the one of Saint Anne stands out, rebuilt in 1769 and decorated with a canvas by Vittorio Amedeo Rapous depicting Saints Anne and Joachim with the Child Mary, and the one of the Crucifix, built in 1677 according to a design by Alessandro Valperga, with a crucifix attributed to Stefano Maria Clemente. The chapel of Saint Joseph, in the left transept, was designed by Filippo Juvarra and decorated by Corrado Giaquinto, while the main altar, with the altarpiece of the Transverberation of Saint Teresa of Avila by Guglielmo Caccia, known as il Moncalvo, is another focal point of the interior. A tragic event marked the history of the church during World War II, when the bombings of 1943 caused serious damage, destroying part of the roof and damaging one of the doors inlaid by the famous cabinetmaker Pietro Piffetti. The church was subsequently restored and brought back to its former splendor.