La chiesa dell’abbazia di Santa Maria di Pinerolo: i cantieri del XVIII secolo tra conoscenza e conservazione

The essay is the result of research on the church of the abbey of Santa Maria of Pinerolo that has led to a significant contribution to existing knowledge of this construction, in particular with regard to the renovations in the modern age when the complex became the site of the Foglianti monks’ community. The abbey today has an architectural configu- ration that is mainly the result of the reconstruction work started in the first quarter of the 18th century under the direction of the chief engineer Antonio Bertola. The church underwent restoration in the early 2000s, which focused on solving serious structural problems, as well as preserving the decorative elements of the chapels. Studies on the abbey have progressed thanks to a combination of archival sources, largely known but more thoroughly dealt with here, and a detailed architectural survey and analysis of the material components of the buildings which enabled the identification of the various phases of transformation. The uncovering of substantial fragments of the original masonry have led to a reviewed reconstructive hypotheses of existing historiography.