Basilica of St. Mauritius, Minor basilica and parish church on the hill above Pinerolo, Italy

The Basilica of St. Mauritius stands on a hill above Pinerolo, with a late-Romanesque bell tower dated 1336 and a nave roofed only in the early 17th century. Inside are side chapels, frescoes of the Ascension by Giuseppe Antonio Petrini, and an altarpiece of the Birth of the Virgin by Claudio Francesco Beaumont.

A church on this hill is documented from 26 October 1078, when Countess Adelaide's charter, signed by Turin's bishop Cuniberto, names it with San Donato. A major reconstruction began in the 1440s and the nave was only roofed in the early 17th century; the rebuilt church was reconsecrated in 1635. Lightning struck around 1665, and after an explosion near the monastery of St Clare killed 400 townsfolk whose bodies were brought here, the church was closed. It was raised to minor basilica in 2002.

The church is dedicated to Saint Maurice, commander of the Theban Legion, martyred with his men under Maximian for refusing to sacrifice to pagan gods. Its hilltop site was the core of medieval Pinerolo, a market borgo later almost entirely demolished during the second French domination to enlarge the citadel.

The basilica stands on the hill above town, reached by climbing Via Principi d'Acaja from the centre of Pinerolo. The approach is uphill on foot, so allow time for the climb; the square in front opens onto the church facade and the 1336 bell tower.

The bell tower, dated 1336 and designed by architect Pietro da Milano, also served as the town's civic tower, which is why it appears in the municipal council acts of that year. An inscription inside the tower records the attribution. A clock with four dials and a bell were installed on the tower in 1389, funded by a tax on all citizens except widows and the poor.