The church is located in via Villanuova, dominating the Belbo valley. The first church had been erected next to the castle walls (currently the church of S. Antonino).
Following the destruction of the fortifications (seventeenth century), the increase of the faithful and the transfer of the parish church of S. Leonardo in its current position, it was considered appropriate to erect a new church of S. Rocco that was also the completion of the settlement of the nucleus religious. It was precisely its construction that defined the square that still retains the desired mark in the seventeenth century.
The building, commissioned by the Confraternity of Disciplinati di S. Rocco, occupies the area in which anciently appeared to have an oven. Work began in 1727 and documents were consecrated in 1740. The bell area dates back to 1735 (Carlo D. Buriano - B. P. Milanese). Initially the church was formed by two bodies: ellipsoidal with a single nave the area of the faithful, with a polygonal shape extended the Presbytery.
Later, in 1755-1764, a rectangular room (Sacristy) joined the inner left side, next to part of the Presbytery; around 1831 an external area was built on the right, modifying part of the ellipsoidal curve into a straight part, acquiring a large space that was perhaps used as an oratory. The authors of the project are Bartolomeo Reale and Defendente Cometa. An unspecified architect was a test of the completed work.
• External
Covered in stone, it presents the typical eighteenth-century characters.
The real façade, rises elegant and harmonious in the moldings, in the partitions, in the chiaroscuro underlined by jutting frames. The portal is simple but perfectly inserted in the context (the doors are recent and replace those stolen in the eighties), is the base of a shadow that ideally continues in the niche above, in the eye of the upper area to end, expanding, in curved gable that crowns the façade completing the vertical momentum.
On the left is evident the sector added in 1765 formed by a small portico in which, on sight, is inserted a stone staircase that connected the ground floor to the church organ. The whole, therefore, is almost asymmetric but does not disturb the harmony for the balanced distribution of architectural and decorative elements, indeed it makes it a unique and interesting element.
• Indoor
Anciently decorated, it is now in a state of deplorable abandonment, but very interesting are the architectural structures that, if in a future they were properly restored, would bring the whole together to the ancient splendor.
The counter-façade is enriched by a double arch with a lowered curve that supports the tribune of the ancient organ.
The ellipsoidal room, with a major axis parallel to the entrance, is perhaps the most original and interesting part for the architectural elements, for the proportions, for the dome roof. Presbytery is separated from the hall, at the bottom, by a step and by a short arched space at the top.
Actual Presbytery is broad and has a polygonal shape. Entirely decorated with frescoes and stuccos, perhaps coeval with the church (Abbondio Peragallo) but difficult to read due to their bad state of conservation.
On the left, a door leads to the sacristy, while the ancient oratory was incorporated into a building behind the building.
The paintings that furnished the walls are located in the church of S. Leonardo.
The abandonment in which it was left for about 90 years shows its degradation and even more the attempts to repaint make the interior almost unrecognizable. Even the exterior had undergone considerable deterioration with loss of some decorative parts.
In 1980, it passed to the City Council that has taken care of the restoration entrusting the direction of the works to the head of the Technical Office architect Stefano Rossi (1991-92).
