Text from Ermanno Gardinali
Casalè was a densely populated religious and rural settlement in the Middle Age. According to documents it dates back to 1086 and it was known as Casalelio, and it comprised three churches: St. Mary, St. Saturninus and St. Peter. St. Mary’s is a Romanic style church but it shows signs of large renovation works, carried out during the Baroque age. Inside the church there are many frescos; they are considered relevant due to their design complexity, the subjects portrayed, and the artists who worked on them, as well as the knowledge of Saints demonstrated. It is thought that Giovenone the Young, and his Vercelli’s school, is the master behind the frescos. The following Saints can easily been recognised: St. Christopher, St. Sebastian, St. Roch, St. Defendens, St. John the Baptist, St. Michael, St. Ignatius, St. Catherine of Alexandria, St. Mary of Magdala, St. Bridget, St. Clare, St. Jerome, St. Anthony the Great, St. Onuphrius, St. Barbara, St. Anne, St. Lucy, St. Agatha, St. Catherine of Siena, Madonna and the Child next to St. Bernard, St. Stephen, St. Lawrence, the representation of death (a sneering skeleton) and St. Francis of Assisi.
