Location details
Hamlet Santo Stefano (Park Francotto), Busca, CN
Big Bench
located in Ernesto Francotto Park
For further information, please visit:
bigbenchcommunityproject.org/it/homepage
To obtain your stamp and passport:
- Caffè di Città
- Via Umberto I, 86, 12022 Busca CN
- [email protected]
A tower and a castrum were built here in Roman times. In the mid-12th century, it was enlarged and became the residence of the Marquises of Vasto (later Lancia, from Manfredo's nickname). Only a few ruins remain of that “upper” castle, known as Castellaccio.
The complex includes the chapel of Saint Stephen, built at the dawn of local Christianity between the 6th and 10th centuries for the community that had formed around the castle. It was the most important parish church of its time. It was renovated and raised several times in the 18th century. All that remains of the ancient building is the splendid apse frescoed by the Biazaci brothers of Busca.
The mur de chevet depicts the Annunciation and Christ in the tomb, between Mary and John weeping. The apse basin features a representation of the theme of early catechesis, Ezekiel's tetramorph with Christ Pantocrator in the iridescent mandorla and the symbols of the evangelists. Divided into four scenes, it narrates the story of the protomartyr Saint Stephen, taken from the Acts of the Apostles in the Golden Legend.
The restoration work, promoted by the municipality in 1998, has restored the cycle to its original splendour.
