Piazza Cavour - Churches

A little way southeast of Piazza Cavour is the Romanesque church of Santa Maria di Castello. In the adjoining Dominican monastery is the small Museo di Santa Maria di Castello (good pictures). Farther east are the Romanesque church of San Donato and the early Gothic church of Sant'Agostino, both with fine campaniles. From here Via Eugenio Ravasco and a viaduct 30m/99ft high lead south to the conspicuous domed church of Santa Maria Assunta di Carignano, begun in 1552 to the design of Galeazzo Alessi and completed about 1600, a smaller edition of the plan adopted by Bramante and Michelangelo for St Peter's in Rome. Under the dome are four large Baroque statues. From the dome there are magnificent views of the city and the harbor.