San Michele is a Romanesque-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 city of

Cremona Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...

, region of Lombardy,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

History

According to tradition, it would have been built by the

Lombards The Lombards () or Longobards () were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who conquered most of the Italian Peninsula between 568 and 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written betwee ...

, who venerated the archangel St Michael, although its existence is documented from the 8th century, prior to Lombard rule of Cremona. In the 11th century a new basilica was built. In the 13th century it received a new campanile (belfry), and the naves were vaulted with pointed arches. In the

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

are elements dating to the early Middle Ages crypt, one of which attributed to the Lombard age. The apse, as well as the other church of San Vincenzo in Cremona, resembles that of the

Nonantola Abbey Nonantola Abbey, dedicated to Pope Silvester I, Saint Sylvester, is a former Order of St. Benedict, Benedictine monastery and ''prelature nullius'' in the commune of Nonantola, c. 10 km north-east of Modena, in the Emilia Romagna region of Ital ...

. The church includes a statue portraying "St Michael Subjugating the Beast" and located to the right of the high altar.

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Michele Cremona 13th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy

Michele Michele () is an Italian male given name, akin to the English male name Michael. Michele (usually pronounced ), is also an English female given name that is derived from the French Michèle. It is a variant spelling of the more common (and iden ...

Romanesque architecture in Cremona