Holy Spirit Church, Baroque church near Porta Palatina, Turin, Italy
The Holy Spirit Church stands at via di Porta Palatina 7, facing via Cappel Verde. Bernardino Quadri gave it its present layout from 1662; Giovanni Battista Feroggio remodelled the interior from 1764, lining the single nave with fourteen Corinthian columns, four of them donated by Charles Emmanuel III. Giovanni Battista Ferrante altered the facade in 1891.
The building was constructed in 1662 by architect Bernardino Quadri as a new addition to the city's religious spaces. It suffered severe damage during World War II and underwent reconstruction afterward.
The church is the seat of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Spirit and of the Accademia musicale del Santo Spirito, which holds concerts there. The confraternity was founded in 1575 in the old parish of San Silvestro, when the parish counted about 250 souls, and had the task of assisting and instructing catechumens. Jean-Jacques Rousseau abjured Protestantism and converted to Catholicism in this church on 21 April 1728.
The church stands behind the Corpus Domini Church and remains open throughout the year for worship and ceremonies. You can best explore the area by visiting the zone near Porta Palatina, where you will also find other historical sites in the neighborhood.
The church preserves a crypt whose deepest floor lies at the same level as the cardo maximus of the Roman city of Augusta Taurinorum. A local tradition, cited by historians such as Pingone and Cibrario, holds that a temple of Diana once stood on the site.
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