Cardinal Maurizio of Savoy and the mystery of the tombstone hidden in Via Alfieri in Turin.
It is likely that the marble stele, at number 9, was made to be affixed by Cardinal Maurizio of Savoy, in memory of an ancient church that once existed outside the walls, then fell into ruin, and had it rebuilt by the same Savoy bishop in the center city
There is a mysterious tombstone in the atrium of a noble building on Via Alfieri, at number 9, at the base of the courtly staircase. It is dated 1650. It has an engraving of eight lines: some of the words have been abraded or erased by time, and it is written in a Latin that is not too academic. Below is a likely translation (the dots indicate those parts of the text that are no longer decipherable and that are widely positioned in the tombstone):
"In the year of Salvation 1650, Maurizio prince of Savoy dedicated to the clementissima Virgin, hope of the penitents and ... of the pious people, this temple started and (then) fell into ruin with the war ... moved within the walls of the city to be preserved that that had been realized with so much piety ".
Certainly the tombstone was to commemorate a very important event: probably the reconstruction of a church, which perhaps once stood outside the city walls and which Cardinal Maurizio had wanted to celebrate and have rebuilt in a more central area. Where the old church was located, and where the new one was rebuilt, we are not able to know. The question, somewhat curious, remains therefore shrouded in mystery.
What we can get to know is the figure of Maurizio of Savoy, the prelate who ordered some stonemasons of the time to engrave and place the tombstone, which today is probably in a different place from the original one. Who moved it, if it was really moved, it is not known.
Maurizio of Savoy was the younger son of Carlo Emanuele I, duke of Savoy, and Caterina Michela of Habsburg. He was started very young to the ecclesiastical career, but for purely political reasons, so much so that in reality he never took the vows (he was appointed cardinal at the age of 15). Later, he became bishop of Vercelli. He received the nomination of protector of France to the Holy See. He was among the participants in the Conclave of 1623, in which Pope Urban VIII was elected.
After the Treaty of Rivoli (1634), he sided with the Spaniards, who granted him the analogous office that was already attributed to him for France, that of protector of Spain. On the death of his brother Vittorio Amedeo I, Duke of Savoy, Cardinal Maurizio sided with his brother Tommaso Francesco, prince of Carignano, against the widow Cristina of Bourbon-France, who directed the Duchy with the title of regent, first in the name of son Francesco Giacinto and then, at the premature death of the latter, in the name of the very young Carlo Emanuele II, who legitimately succeeded him in a hereditary line. At that time, the nobility, the upper bourgeoisie and the clergy hung in a balanced way between two opposing factions: the so-called principes, pro-Spanish and supporters of Prince Tommaso, and the Madamistas, pro-French and supporters of the royal Madama, as it was called the regent Christine Marie of France.
In August 1639, Turin was by now controlled by the prince troops, led by the cardinal Maurizio and Prince Tommaso, and Cristina, with her little son Carlo Emanuele, was forced to flee the city. However, a few months later, the regent and the small future duke were able to return to Turin again, freed by the opposing troops and "usurpers" with the help of the French troops, commanded by the Marquis d'Harcourt. In 1642, as a good diplomat, Cardinal Maurizio negotiated an agreement with his sister-in-law Cristina, obtaining the Lieutenancy of Nice and even the hand of the thirteen-year-old niece, Luisa Cristina di Savoia, daughter of Cristina herself and of the late brother Vittorio Amedeo I, whom he married after advocating and obtaining the necessary papal dispensation. Then he finally left the cardinal's purple, he devoted himself to philosophical and literary studies.
He died in today's Villa della Regina, on the Turin hill, leaving no heirs. The body was buried at the Sacra di San Michele. And with the body, perhaps, even the small secret of the Via Alfieri tombstone.
Torino, il mistero della lapide nascosta in via Alfieri – PiemonteTopNews
