WHERE: in Sant’Orso square.

 

DESCRIPTION: The complex includes the collegiate church of Saint Orso with its Romanesque cloister, the Priory and the early Christian basilica.

 

HISTORY: During the first centuries of the Middle Ages, the Christian community of Aosta used this area as a place of burial for the dead, already Roman (and even proto-historic) funerary area.

 

Dedicated to Saints Peter and Orso, it dates back to the fifth century. Subject to massive intervention of reconstruction during the eleventh century, it stands for the rich liturgical, offering different styles of art, even if all of the baroque prevails. Of note, the Ottonian frescoes, promoted by Bishop Anselm, coeval with those of the Cathedral and, in this case, located in the attic of the building. Among the oldest parts of the church that can now be visited there is the crypt, located below the apse area and probably wanted to solemnize the burial of St. Orso (who lived around the eighth century). In the choir there is also an interesting mosaic, discovered in the summer of 1999. It is a work that shows a square base, in the center, a picture of Samson killing a lion, likely foreshadowing of Christ that overcomes the evil one. Near the exit, you can see the baptistery built by Badarelli in 1839. Next to the collegiate church, the visitor can appreciate the imposing Romanesque bell tower, forty-six meters tall, originally a defense tower (half of the twelfth century).

 

Adjacent to the Collegiate, stands the Romanesque cloister. Its construction dates back to the XII century. Reason of great interest are the forty historiated capitals - stylistic choice at all rare in Italy – which depict scenes from the Old and New Testament, the story of the collegiate itself, but also folk tales (such as, for example, the fable of Aesop fox and the stork), as well as events related to the birth of the Savior and the life of St. Orso (capital n . 32).

 

Of ancient origin, but completely transformed by the prior Georges de Challant between 1470 and 1500, it has undoubted peculiarities in the use of terracotta in the construction of the building, unusual material for the Aosta Valley. The architectural style is that of the Renaissance, albeit with some Gothic influences in the choices related to the windows. Inside you will find the priory room and a frescoed chapel.

 

Built at the behest of the elite church in the fifth century, the cemetery church was originally called "Concilium Sanctorum". Destroyed by fire in the eighth century, the basilica offers its visitors the only remains of the perimeter wall. These remains were then buried and on them was built in the ninth century a small church dedicated to San Lorenzo (now deconsecrated and hosting exhibitions). The ancient seat of the early Christian archeology, visited today thanks to a modern structure, houses the funerary inscriptions of the bishops Agnello, Gallo e Grato (patron saint of Aosta, who died after 470).

 

Worthy of note, in the context of the complex, is the majestic and ancient linden said "of Sant’Orso", planted between 1530 and 1550. Legend has that it has been sewed by Orso himself. Since 1924, the tree is a national monument and, since 1990, its protection is also assured by a regional law.

 

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