The history of the family crypt in the Renaissance church of San Sebastiano in Biella testifies to how much the La Marmora family has cherished their Biellese roots throughout history. In fact, in order to accomplish their project of a family mausoleum in Biella, they did not hesitate to organize, in times when today's means certainly did not exist, the translation of the bodies of their ancestors and relatives from various locations in Italy and around the world.
The La Marmora who died in the eighteenth century were brought to Biella from Turin; Alfonso La Marmora, who died in Florence, and Tommaso Ferrero, who died in Naples, were brought back to the Piedmontese city in turn. However, the apotheosis occured in 1911 with the repatriation from Crimea to Biella of the body of Alessandro La Marmora, founder of the Bersaglieri corps.
The fulfilment of the La Marmora's plan to transform the Renaissance church of San Sebastiano into the ancestral place of worship occurred in 1911 with the translation of Alessandro La Marmora's body from Crimea where he had died of cholera in 1855.
Foto @alessandra.corra
Archivio Regione Piemonte
