On this guide you can find the synthetic description of the main monuments of La Morra: churches, chapels, mansions,… you have the same indication in front of every monument. Main of them are located in the center of the village but you can also find more to Annunziata hamlet, Santa Maria hamlet, Berri hamlet and some more in the countryside.
To reach rhe monuments, you can also decide to go through our 7 walking trails.
Anyway the visit start from piazza Castello, with the bell tower, symbol of La Morra, a tower that was built at the same place of the antique castle that was destroyed in 1544 dc.
A total of 24 monuments can be visited.
Texts from Armando Gambera and photos from Edo Prando.
Bell Tower
The bell tower was built between 1709 and 1711 by Engineer Cocito of Neive, who completed all of the work below the belfry. The belfry itself was designed by Engineer Domenico Pettiti of Cherasco, who was hired to resolve the slight westward lean in the tower. Pettiti decided not to build a sixth level as indicated in the original plans, substituting it instead with the belfry.
The tower is 31 meters high and composed of five levels of simple squares and a baroque style belfry. At its base, there are fragments of stone from the pre-existent medieval tower which collapsed in 1700, one of the few remaining traces of the castle destroyed by occupying French troops in 1544.
Church of the Holy Annunziata
This simple 12th-century Benedictine convent with connecting church dedicated to Saint Martin was La Morra’s first residential complex; its inhabitants later moved to the current location on the summit of the hill. Original remnants from that era include: the small chapel with traces of frescoes on its side, the apse and the stone and brick bell tower with double and triple lancet windows.
In the 17th-century the church underwent radical restorations and came to be called the Holy Annunziata. The facade was rebuilt in 1684 under architect Michelangelo Garove and inside, the columns were renovated and the apse decorated with the iconographical theme of the Servite Monk. The central altar piece depicts The Madonna of the Seven Sorrows and a Roman funereal stele can be found preserved within the floor.
Saint Sebastian Church
Between 1700 and 1708 the ancient parochial church, Saint Mary of Marcenasco, was rebuilt with the new name Saint Sebastian the Martyr Brotherhood of the White Order. The fired brick bell tower, from 1766, is characterized by the elegance and harmony of its lines. The façade is divided into two sections, each with a niche containing traces of frescoes. The interior, a single nave with two side chapels, preserves a notable stucco altar from 1793, with the altar piece representing Saint Sebastian the Martyr.
Our Lady of Loreto Chapel
This small rural chapel was built in 1750 over a 14th-century votive pillar in the form of an open tabernacle. It preserves a painted mural from the original pillar depicting The Virgin with Child, now found in the apse. The series of frescos which decorate the interior were done by Giovanni Vassalli (1817) of La Morra. The church is rectangular in shape with a single nave, the walls partly in stone and partly in brick. The front portico was added in 1834.
Saint Sebastian Pillar
This pillar was erected in 1729 on the site of a demolished ancient chapel. It is composed of three circular panels, frescoed in the first half of the 1900’s by La Morra painter-decorator Giovanni Savio (1863-1950). Ample traces of the three frescoes remain, depicting the Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian and Saint Lucia and the Immaculate Conception. In 2006 the pillar was restored and moved uphill from its original location.
Saint Brigida Chapel
This chapel, dedicated to the Widow Saint Brigida of Sweden, was built in 1701. It is an enlargement of an ancient votive pillar in the form of an open tabernacle. The interior contains an altar piece representing the Holy Virgin and Saint Brigida with her daughter, Saint Catherine the Virgin, a work by Diego Bono from 1819. There is also an important series of frescoes in the choir, depicting the Virgin on the throne with Child and two Saints. The unknown artist uses gothic and renaissance art styles in this work which dates back to the 15th-century, when the original oratory was built.
Saint Rocco Church
This church was built by the Brotherhood Turchini as an offering of gratitude for La Morra having remained untouched by the plague. Its construction between 1716 and 1750 was long and difficult. The church, found opposite the Town Hall, presents elegant baroque lines and a notable carved main door. The interior, a single nave which extends into the apse, preserves an altar piece of the Virgin and Saint Rocco and view of La Morra by the anonymous “painter of Mondovì” (1786). The domed vault, frescoed by Pietro Paolo Operti of Bra, illustrates the Glory of Saint Rocco.
Saint Martin Parochial Church
This church was designed by architect Michelangelo Garove and built between 1684 and 1695. The imposing baroque façade is enlivened by architectural elements, such as the columns, niches and jutting cornices, which create a play between light and shadow. The interior is a single nave with communicating side chapels. It preserves important works of baroque art, including the main altar piece portraying the Madonna with Child and the Saints Martin and Crispin (1715), by artist Giovanni Carlo Aliberti of Canelli. The fresco found on the vault of the apse, the Triumph of Saint Martin is also attributed to this artist. The vault of the nave was painted by Luigi Morgari in 1880 and depicts episodes from the life of Saint Martin.
Saint Lucia Chapel
This rural chapel, originally named for the Holy Virgin, was built in 1612 by Spanish General Gaspare Sanguezza who was quartering in La Morra. It was rebuilt in 1779 after having fallen into disrepair, and co-named for Saint Lucia. The interior preserves an altar piece depicting the Madonna with Child, Saint Agatha, Saint Lucia and an Angel, by Agostino Cottolengo of Bra.
Falletti-Cordero Mansion
Built in the mid 18th-century by the Falletti family, feudatories of La Morra, it has belonged to the Cordero di Montezemolo family since the middle of the 20th-century, when the Falletti family name died out. To its left, you find the connecting Chapel of the Madonna. Embedded in the wall you can still see the stone coat of arms of Bonifacio Falletti. The first Barolo wine of La Morra was made in his wine cellars.
Holy Cross Hospital
This building, now a rest home, was built in 1829 on the wishes of the La Morra community to substitute the former hospital with a new and larger one. The front facade, in fired brick, presents harmonious and austere lines, the back, opening onto a courtyard, resembles the style of the 1700’s with a portico, open gallery and gable.
Antique Falletti Mansion
The Falletti mansion, former feudatory family of La Morra, rises above the ruins of the medieval castle which was destroyed in the mid 16th-century. Remodelled many times, the piano nobile preserves a great hall with a wooden lacunar ceiling and there are several rooms with cross vaults, used as classrooms. On the ground floor, in the stables you find the present Cantina Comunale.
School Building
This site was the former location of the antique Falletti mansion, feudatory family of La Morra. It was built over the remains of the medieval castle which was destroyed around the middle of the 16th-century. The building was given to the community in the 18th-century, when the Falletti family built their new mansion in via XX Settembre. At the beginning of the 20th-century the building was demolished with the unanimous consent of the citizens, in order to build the present school block. The school was inaugurated in 1914.
Our Lady of Grace Chapel
This chapel was built in 1914 beside a pre-existent pillar which had been knocked down at the end of the 20th-century. The pillar was frescoed internally and externally by La Morra decorator-painter Giovanni Savio (1863-1950). In 1999 the chapel was restored and the interior was decorated by David Tremlett (1945) and the exterior by Sol LeWit (1928-2006). It is also called the Brunate chapel or Barolo chapel because it is surrounded by vineyards which produce this wine.
The Ramparts
The castle of La Morra, demolished in the XVI century, was surrounded by high stone and brick walls. The ramparts, partially rebuilt in the XIX and XX centuries, incorporate what remains of the medieval walls. Two ramps built using stones from the Tanaro river take the road up to the two historic access gateways, the Borghetto (lower) gate and the Cittadella (upper) gate. The highest wall has been given the name Ciaplass Bastion because of its massive projecting exterior.
Casa Massobrio-Boffa
This building dates from the XV century but has been modified several times. The façade incorporates traces of the original structure in terra cotta, with a pointed-arched window and a brick frieze of Renaissance design. The historic centre of La Morra goes back to the XIII century, when the inhabitants of Marcenasco (now Annunziata di La Morra) ventured up the hill to build a new village.
The Town Hall
The Town Hall was rebuilt in 1765 and modified again in the XX century. A wooden coffered ceiling has been retained in the council chamber. The first primary schools were once housed in the building. In 1402 the pre-existing structure was the venue for the signing of the Statute of La Morra, a set of laws that regulated the relations between its citizens and the Falletti family, the lords of the district, as well as the administration of justice.
Chapel of S.Antonio Abate
The main feature of the chapel (XVIII century) is the portico in front of the façade, protecting the wall paintings of the Madonna and child, St. Anthony Abbot and St. Philip, painted by Giovanni Savio of La Morra in the first half of the XX century. Inside the chapel there is an altar-piece (1858) representing the same figures as the façade, which provided Savio inspiration for his work. The stucco decorations on the cornice date from 1745.
Church of Santa Maria
Records of the ancient church of Santa Maria in Plaustra go back to 1200, but it was rebuilt in its present form in 1888. The façade retains a few decorative stone fragments in Romanesque style from the early parish church. In the interior there is an ex-voto conserved from 1886, giving thanks to Saint Mary for protecting the town’s citizens from the cholera epidemic.
Former convent of the Luigine Nuns
The house was built at the end of the XVIII century by the Roggeri family. In 1846 it was given to the Luigine Nuns, an order founded in La Morra in 1815, who had been in need of a spacious building. The west wing dates from the end of the XIX century. The nuns’ ancient chapel where the founder, the venerable Don Rubino, officiated, has been transformed into a public hall.
Casa Savio
This house was built at the beginning of the XX century by the Savio family of artist-decorators. Giovanni Savio (1863-1950), the most famous of them, decorated grand houses and castles in the Langhe area (La Morra, Novello, Verduno) and the salons of Montecarlo Casino. In this house he painted the large art nouveau peacock on the façade and the mythological figures in Pompeian style in the interior.
Casa Gabetti
The building dates back to the 17th century and still retains the original brick-vaulted cellars. The decorations on the façade were added in the first half of the 20th century. It was home for a while to Giuseppe Gabetti (Turin, 1796; La Morra, 1862), orchestra director for the ballet productions of Turin’s “Teatro Regio”. He composed the Royal March (1834), which was the Italian National Anthem from 1861 until the advent of the Italian Republic, in June1946.
Nursery School
The building was designed to host the town’s nursery school and was completed in 1857. The children of La Morra have attended it ever since. The original façade has been maintained, while the interior has been adapted slightly to comply with school regulations and standards.
Saint Martin Parochial Church
The church is flooded with natural light, which streams in through side openings, conveying an amber colour to the building and emphasizing the beauty of the paintings and frescoes.
Ala del mercato (Market wing)
The arcade, built at the beginning of the 10th century, hosted the Monday market until the 1960s. It is decorated with a cycle of murals, dedicated to the vine and wine, by the contemporary artist Riccardo Assom. It is currently occupied in part by the tourist information office.
Chapel of the Madonna delle Grazie
The Chapel of the Madonna delle Grazie was built in 1914, next to an existing votive chapel frescoed by Giovanni Savio (1863-1950) from La Morra. In 1999, the Ceretto family, who bought it in 1972 along with the vineyard in front of it, commissioned the reinterpretation of the chapel in a contemporary key by the artists David Tremlett (1945), for the interior, and Sol LeWitt (1928-2006), for the exterior. Having become one of the area’s most modern symbols, it is now known as the “cappella delle Brunate” (Brunate chapel) or “cappella del Barolo” (Barolo chapel) in celebration of the prestigious wine which begins its life in this famous vineyard.
