The country chapel of Beato Amedeo, located in the town of Villafranca d'Asti in the Fransos region (olim Montortorello), was built in 1704 by the canonical of Saint Helena don Gaspare Veglio.
It was visited for the first time in 1729 by the bishop of Asti Mons. Todone and presented itself in order; he also owned a bell bought by the founder, and the bishop merely ordered the provision of lattice windows.
In 1749 the bishop Felizzano judged it in good condition and ordered to furnish the altar of a wooden table and a decent corporal.
Things got worse in the next century because in the visit of 1840 the church was in need of unspecified "gravibus reparationibus", while the injunction was repeated to provide for the closing of the windows with frames and it was ordered to make goblets and paten.
Only at the end of the century, however, the chapel was repaired by the owner, Giacomo Veglio, and in 1892 Don Bussetti was re-baptized by the parish priest of Villafranca.
Currently, the chapel is in very precarious conditions, since for several years the annual Mass has not been celebrated on the day of the Blessed Amedeo as it happened in the past: the roof is in bad condition and the interior furnishings have been completely destroyed in the long run in which the church remained open (it is recently closed again).
Of particular interest is the canvas that overhangs what remains of the altar, representing the Blessed Amedeo who distributes alms to the poor on the background of the image of the Shroud.
There is no shortage of dissension among the descendants of the founder since the maintenance was carried out by the family of Mario Veglio while the enjoyment of the land currently belongs to another branch that is not interested in the chapel.
A protection intervention is considered necessary because the chapel risks an irreviable decline and the same demolition, lacking the common agreement for its repair.
Despite being a small rural building with no particular artistic value, it still remains the testimony of a particular moment in the history of the locality and of the spread of religious piety in the Asti countryside of the early eighteenth century.
For more information: https://www.beweb.chiesacattolica.it/
See also...
• Events in Villafranca d'Asti
• Villafranca d'Asti tourist guide
