Chiesa di Santa Pelagia

Chiesa di Santa Pelagia presents a central architectural plan shaped around a circular nave and elliptical spaces. Its pronaos frames the entrance with Ionic columns and a triangular pediment. Filippo Nicolis di Robilant designed the church above an earlier building for Augustinian nuns. Inside, the presbytery meets a semi-oval choir with walnut stalls and a carved wooden balcony. The dome rises above lesenes, a strong entablature, oculi, and broad semi-oval windows. Baroque motifs shape the interior, while later painted layers remain part of its decorative history. Antonio Blanchery’s altarpieces show Saint Pelagia with Augustine and Monica, alongside Francis de Sales and Luigi Gonzaga. Vittorio Amedeo Rapous painted Amedeo of Savoy among beggars for the choir. A bomb struck the church without exploding, damaging its roof, floors, and canvases. Restoration recovered stucco, woodwork, altars, canvases, and a papier-mâché Annunciation in the choir. The building later served the Pia Opera della Mendicità Istruita as a place for charitable schooling. Its circular nave and curved presbytery give Chiesa di Santa Pelagia an intimate, carefully staged presence.