Church of San Giacomo the Greater (Agliano Terme)

The current building was erected under the direction of Marco Poncino, headmaster of Luganese origin, helped by Carlo Bono wall^[1], also of Lugano origin, starting from 1657^[2] with poor and poor materials, due to the lack of financial availability of the country community^[1], on the ruins of a previous church, destroyed by the Spanish in 1637^[2] due to the War of succession of Mantua and Monferrato, which was built in 1500 in Gothic style and of which it preserves the typical medieval east-west orientation, thanks to the use of some master walls of the previous building.^[3] In 1667 Pope Innocent X gave the order to translate the relics of San Savino di Spoleto in the church of Agliano Terme, where they were welcomed by the pastor of time Don Arrulani with a sollenne et numerosa, with all possible pumps and solemnities on the first Sunday of September of the same year.^[4] The church's fast construction caused problems since800: in 1815, due to water infiltration within the floor burials, two pillars on the left hand yielded and were replaced by the pastor of that time, Fr Carlo Notari, who also entrusted to the well-known^[5] painter Lorenzo Peretti senior the task of frescoing the times and side walls of the presbytery.^[1] In the 1915 it was noticed that the right pillars were yielding due to the weight of the masonry and soon maturò in the parish priests the idea of building a new church which was abandoned, however, in the years '60, thanks to the intervention of Fr. Giglio Perosino who listened to the opinion of the people restored the whole building, a project that began in 1967 to end a few years later.^[1]

Barocca invoice, the exterior of the building and the bell tower are almost totally decorated with bricks while the salient facade is plastered and decorated by a protiro, whose columns from pink granite spout come from the ancient decoration of the main gate of the Asti^[1], at the top of which there is a three-light window and two vertical registers containing semi-domes and other decorations separated both from the center and from the section of the side naves by piers. The façade finally culminates with a decoration that recalls the ancient pediments of Greek temples. The interior of the church, with a central plan, is made up of a central nave and two side naves occupied by three chapels on each side^[1], decorated with polychrome marble altars decorated with canvases by different artists^[3], while inside the last one on the right towards the presbytery, dedicated to the Madonna del Suffragio, there is a wooden crucifix dating back to the 12th-13th century of fine workmanship since it is in which "the suffering that seems to dig into the limbs appears calmed in the composed expression of the face"^[1][6], furthermore a hook is visible at the top which allows us to say that it was probably originally hanging above an altar^[1] The presbytery is raised and characterized by a 18th century higher altar^[1], in marble and spaced slightly from the back of the church, while on the sides two marble matronly balconies are visible^[3]. The bell tower, restored in 1983, has a square base and ends with a four-sided cuspal roof^[1].