Basilica di Superga, Torino

Description

Turin 1706. The city is invaded by the Franco-Spanish of Louis XIV and the Piedmontese troops, together with the Austrian allied troops, are in difficulty. The Duke Vittorio Amedeo II and Prince Eugene of Savoy-Soisson, who lead the local army, go up on the hill of Superga to observe from above the battlefield. In a small church on the hill, in front of the Statue of Our Lady of Grace, the Duke makes a vow: if he won, he would build in that same place a large church in honor of the Virgin. After a tough battle the enemy army is defeated and the liberated city. Victor Amadeus II does deliver on its commitment, entrusting the construction of the Shrine architect of Court, Filippo Juvarra. To accomplish the complex will be demolished the existing church and lowered the forty meter high hill. In 1717 it has laid the foundation stone of the Sanctuary, while the 'inauguration takes place fourteen years later, in 1731.