St. Giacinto Chapel (17th century)
On the mountainside, halfway between Ponte del Diavolo and the summit of Buriasco where the castle of the Savoy family used to be, the little church of St. Giacinto overlooks torrent Stura. Its presence was already documented in 1653. It was rebuilt in 1730 by Giuseppe Ottaviano Cacherano Osasco della Rocca, who on 1st July 1725 purchased Lanzo from the House of Savoy for 65,000 Liras. The feud had been taken away from the Estense family, who owned it since 1577, with royal decree by Vittorio Amedeo II.
According to the legend, the marquis built the chapel to please the mercy of his wife, and dedicated it to Saint Hyacinth (1183 - 1257), whose worship was increasingly widespread among the Catholic monarchies.
Probably the little church was built on the ruins of a watching tower belonging to the defensive complex of Lanzo Castle, conquered by the French in 1551 and destroyed in 1556.
The interior, very small, preserved the icon of Giuseppe Guglielmino (1813 - 1865), the painter from Val di Susa who painted the nave of the parish church of San Pietro in Vincoli. The current naïf painting is by Gilio Richiardi from Lanzo. It represents the Saint wearing his Dominican clothes while saving with one hand the ciborium and with the other hand the statue of the Madonna, after the Tartarian invasion of the town of Kiev, at that time the capital of Russia. A lily and an open book next to the Saint recall the two main features of his life: chastity and preaching the Gospel.
The Saint is celebrated on 17th August and the celebrations are organized by the Confraternity of the Saint Name of Jesus (church of Santa Maria del Borgo).
