San Carlo al Corso is a neoclassic style,

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church located in the Piazza of San Carlo, just off Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, just west of the Piazza San Babila, in central Milan, region of Lombardy, Italy.

History and decoration

The site of the present church was occupied by a monastic complex of the

Servite Order The Servite Order, officially known as the Order of Servants of Mary (; abbreviation: OSM), is one of the five original mendicant orders in the Roman Catholic Church. It includes several branches of friars (priests and brothers), contemplative nu ...

, founded as early as 1290, and including the church of Santa Maria dei Servi. This church and monastery was frescoed by Fiammenghino, but in addition included works by

Gian Paolo Lomazzo Gian Paolo Lomazzo (26 April 1538 – 27 January 1592; his first name is sometimes also given as "Giovan" or "Giovanni") was an Italians, Italian artist and writer on art. Praised as a painter, Lomazzo wrote about artistic practice and art t ...

, Federico Macagni, and Daniele Crespi. The monastery was suppressed in 1799, during the Napoleonic occupation. The immediate neighborhood also had ancient small parish churches of San Pietro all Orto and San Giorgio alla Nocetta, or later San Giorgio Alamanno. In the 19th-century desires for modern urban planning motivated the municipality to desire to create a linear boulevard from the Piazza of the Duomo of Milan to the piazza San Babila. With the approval of the local parish provost Giacinto Amati (brother of the architect Carlo), it was decided to raze the ancient structures, and create a larger church dedicated to Milan's own Archbishop Saint Charles Borromeo. The new church was built in thanks for the ending of a recent cholera epidemic, and Archbishop Borromeo was admired in part for his work during the outbreak of

bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of Plague (disease), plague caused by the Bacteria, bacterium ''Yersinia pestis''. One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and ...

in 1576 in Milan. Demolition of the cloister began in 1838. Thirty-thousand lire were spent by the municipality to purchase the property. Funds for the church required the collection of donations. The church facade was designed in 1844 by

Carlo Amati Carlo Amati (22 August 1776 – 23 March 1852) was an Italian architect and scholar. Biography Born in Monza, Amati studied architecture at the Brera Academy, Milan, under Giuseppe Parini and Leopoldo Pollack. Amati became an assistant to the bro ...

and was finished in 1847.''The Architecture of Modern Italy, Volume I: The Challenge of Tradition 1750–1900'' by Terry Kirk 2005 page 153 One obvious model of the church was the

Pantheon, Rome The Pantheon (, ; ,Although the spelling ''Pantheon'' is standard in English, only ''Pantheum'' is found in classical Latin; see, for example, Pliny, ''Natural History'36.38 "Agrippas Pantheum decoravit Diogenes Atheniensis". See also ''Oxfor ...

. Amati also designed the

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...

and

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

around the piazza, which was intended to house commercial structures and stores. Flanking the main altar are two chapels, one dedicated to the ''Madonna of the Sorrrows'' (Virgine Addolorata) with its statue derived from Santa Maria dei Servi and the other dedicated to the blessed Giovanni Angelo Porro, with the altar from the prior church. Flanking the entrance are two chapels, one a baptistery and the other, a chapel of the Crucifix. In the apse ceiling is a fresco depicting the ''Glory of San Carlo before allegories of Faith, Hope and Charity'' by Angelo Inganni. This church served as a model for the Chiesa Rotonda in San Bernardino, Switzerland, 1867. The prominent baroque basilica church of

Sant'Ambrogio e Carlo al Corso Sant'Ambrogio e Carlo al Corso (usually known simply as ''San Carlo al Corso'') is a basilica churches of Rome, church in Rome, Italy, facing onto the central part of the Via del Corso. The apse of the church faces across the street, the Mausoleu ...

is located on via del Corso in Rome, and was erected in the early 17th century. The prominent Neolassical church of San Francesco di Paola in the central Piazza del Plebiscito of Naples, also influenced by Patheon, had been started in 1816.

References

Descrizione del Nuovo Tempio di S. Carlo in Milano con alcuni cenni storici della demolita chiesa di S. Maria de'Servi
by Abbott Giacinto Longoni, Publisher: Presso La ditta Angelo Bonfanti Tipografo Libraio, Milan (1847).

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:San Carlo Al Corso (Milan) Carlo Neoclassical architecture in Milan Roman Catholic churches completed in 1847 Tourist attractions in Milan 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Neoclassical church buildings in Italy