The small parish church of S. Antonio di Ranverso is one of the most famous monuments of the international Gothic. It is located on the stretch of the Via Francigena (French road) between Rivoli and Avigliana, at the beginning of the Val di Susa (Susa valley). The natural setting has amazingly preserved the characteristics of the medieval landscape – Charlemagne past through here -. The architectural complex originally comprised the Church, the Monastery and the small hospital, where the monks of St Anthony used to cure leprosy and the shingles. This is what is left now of the old monastic complex: the church with the bell tower and the sacristy, one side of the cloister, the hospital, the monastery and the farmhouses. The church, with a nave and two aisles supported by pilaster that bear Gothic arches and cross vaults, was decorated in the first half of the XV century. On the façade is a brickwork three-span portico, surmounted by Gothic pediments adorned with giant leaves, flowers, fruit and luxuriant vegetation, with spires at the end. It is an example of Lombard Gothic. On the sides of the main door, are columns, with capitals in green stone, similar to the ones of the Sacra di San Michele church, which depict monk’s heads, devils or animals: typical images of the iconography of the early Middle Ages.
On the High Altar a large polyptych by Defendente Ferrari can be admired, which depicts the nativity. On the sides are portrayed San Rocco and San Bernardino da Siena and, on the right, Sant’Antonio (St Anthony) and San Sebastiano (St Sebastian). On the lower part, are depicted episodes from the life and miracles of Sant’Antonio Abate. In the presbytery can be seen:
on the left wall the "Madonna in trono e i Santi Giovanni Battista, Antonio Abate, Marta, Margherita, Nicola e Martino e i Profeti" (Madonna on a throne and SS John the Baptist, Anthony Abate, Martha, Margaret, Nicholas, Martin and the Prophets) by Giacomo Jaquerio;
on the right wall, the “Storie di Sant'Antonio Abate e i contadini che offrono maiali a Sant'Antonio" (Stories of St Anthony Abate with farmers offering pigs to St Anthony).
In the sacristy are the frescoes by Jaquerio: "I quattro Evangelisti" (The four Evangelists), the "Orazione nell'orto" (Prayer in the garden) and the impressive "Salita al Calvario" (Ascent to the Calvary). The frescoes depicting the "Storie di San Biagio" (St Blaise’s stories), in the chapel with the same name, date back to a later stay of the painter in Ranverso: around 1450.
