CONSOLATA SHRINE
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Spectacular Baroque basilica with hundreds of particularly moving ex-votos, opposite the Al Bicerin café.
Restructuring of the basilica, which has medieval origins, began in 1678, led by the great architect Guarino Guarini. Filippo Juvarra continued its expansion in the 18th century. Already majestic from the outside, the interior is a pure Baroque jewel: gilding, marble, statuary, you don't know where to look, so rich is the ornamentation. Clinging to the marble covering is a spectacular display of religious vows to the Virgin Mary, a cult that began in 1104 (when a blind pilgrim from Briançon regained his sight after having a vision of the Virgin) and to which the people of Turin are still particularly devoted. On June 20, a procession takes place here, followed by a religious ceremony and a time of adoration. In the "waiting room" for confessions, and in a passageway between the sacristy and the church, dozens of particularly moving drawings by private individuals in the 20th century, often in a naive but highly expressive style, illustrate the ills for which they ask the Virgin's intercession: a man run over by a streetcar, a little girl who has dropped her little brother, a little above a patient in an operating theatre, or soldiers at the front...
On your way out, don't forget to enjoy a bicerin at the historic Al Bicerin café, and take in the soothing ambience of this busy little square in Turin. An absolute must.
