Photo: Bunet1981 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Cappella di San Lorenzo a San Giorio

Cemetery chapel of 1328 with a cycle of Gothic frescoes on the life of Christ and of Saint Lawrence, and on the legend of the three living and the three dead.

Ask the museum for opening hoursAdmission €3

Website Directions

About the museum

The Chapel of San Lorenzo, also called “del Conte” (of the Count), was built in 1328 by Count Lorenzetto Bertrandi as a cemetery chapel dedicated to his patron saint. It is part of the Sistema Museale Diocesano (Diocesan Museum System) of the Susa Valley.

The chapel was completely decorated, both outside and inside, with frescoes from the first half of the 14th century by an anonymous Franco-Piedmontese painter. Of the exterior paintings only a fragment on the south side remains, while the interior ones are an important testimony of French Gothic art in the Susa Valley.

The cycle illustrates the Stories of Jesus Christ and the Stories of Saint Lawrence, with the figures of Saint Agatha and Saint Ursula with the eleven thousand virgins; in the apse Saint Lawrence presents the donor and his wife, Guglielmina. The themes are salvation (the Crucifixion), redemption (the legend of the three living and the three dead) and the holy life. The style reflects the influence of Giotto, so much so that the Crucifixion recalls that of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua.

Highlights

Cycle of Gothic frescoes from the early 14th century
Stories of Jesus Christ and of Saint Lawrence
Legend of the three living and the three dead
Crucifixion influenced by Giotto

Permanent exhibition

Ciclo di affreschi trecenteschi – Gothic frescoes of the first half of the 14th century with the Stories of Christ and of Saint Lawrence and the legend of the three living and the three dead.

Operated by: Centro Culturale Diocesano di Susa
Visitors per year: approx. 400