The Church of the Addolorata is a Romanesque-style basilica church in Acqui Terme. The church is dedicated to the Marian devotion of Our Lady of Sorrows, however, the church is also called San Pietro, since it was once attached to what was once the adjacent Benedictine monastery of San Pietro.
The layout we see today was built in the 11th-century at the site of a late 6th-century paleochristian church located just outside the city walls. It had three naves with an octagonal bell-tower at the southern apse. The simple brick facade has protruding pilasters and shows a trend towards verticality. After 1720, with the closing of the monastery, part of the church was rededicated to the Addolorata. It underwent major restoration after the First World War, that stripped much of the decoration, giving the interior a white-washed simplicity. The apse and the base of the bell-tower retain medieval traces.
The interior conserves a 15th-century Deposition fresco and two 16th-century canvases depicting Christ Crowned with Spines and Christ before Pilate. The wooden statue of the Madonna Addolorata dates to 1720.
References:The Walls of Constantinople are a series of defensive stone walls that have surrounded and protected the city of Constantinople (today Istanbul) since its founding as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Constantine the Great. With numerous additions and modifications during their history, they were the last great fortification system of antiquity, and one of the most complex and elaborate systems ever built. They were also the largest and strongest fortification in both the ancient and medieval world.
Initially built by Constantine the Great, the walls surrounded the new city on all sides, protecting it against attack from both sea and land. As the city grew, the famous double line of the Theodosian Walls was built in the 5th century. Although the other sections of the walls were less elaborate, they were, when well-manned, almost impregnable for any medieval besieger.