Sant'Angelo (officially Santa Maria degli Angeli) is a church in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

, northern

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 ...

, belonging to the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

Order.

History

The church was constructed in the mid-16th century by the Spanish general and Governor Milan

Ferrante Gonzaga Ferrante I Gonzaga (also Ferdinando I Gonzaga; 28 January 1507 – 15 November 1557) was an Italian condottiero, a member of the House of Gonzaga and the founder of the branch of the Gonzaga of Guastalla. Biography Ferrante was born in Mantua ...

, over an edifice already existing in 1418, in replacement of the eponymous one, which had been destroyed to build the new walls. The design was by

Domenico Giunti Domenico is an Italian given name for males and may refer to: People * Domenico Alfani, Italian painter * Domenico Allegri, Italian composer * Domenico Alvaro, Italian mobster * Domenico Ambrogi, Italian painter * Domenico Auria, Italian archite ...

. The small bell tower was added in 1607, while the façade was finished only in 1630, in late-

Mannerist Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...

or early-

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

style. The church is one of the few in the city which was not restored in "neo-medieval" style during the 19th century. It has a single nave with side chapels and

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

, a

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

and a deep presbytery. Artworks include works by

Gaudenzio Ferrari Gaudenzio Ferrari ( – 11 January 1546) was an Italian painter and sculptor of the Renaissance. Biography Gaudenzio was born to Franchino Ferrari at Valduggia in Valsesia in the Duchy of Milan. Valduggia is now in the province of Vercelli in P ...

(chapel of St. Catherine, now replaced by a copy; the original is in the

Pinacoteca di Brera The Pinacoteca di Brera ("Brera Art Gallery") is the main public gallery for paintings in Milan, Italy. It contains one of the foremost collections of Italian paintings from the 13th to the 20th century, an outgrowth of the cultural program of ...

Antonio Campi Antonio Campi (c. 1522 – 1587) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance. He was born in Cremona. His style merges Lombard with Mannerist styles. In Cremona, his extended family was the foundation of the Cremonese school of painting. ...

(same chapel),

Morazzone Morazzone is a ''comune'' (municipality) of c. 4,000 inhabitants in the province of Varese in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northwest of Milan and about south of Varese Varese ( , ; or ; ; ; archaic ) is a city and ''comune'' ...

(a ''St.

Charles Borromeo Charles Borromeo (; ; 2 October 1538 – 3 November 1584) was an Catholic Church in Italy, Italian Catholic prelate who served as Archdiocese of Milan, Archbishop of Milan from 1564 to 1584. He was made a Cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal in 156 ...

in Glory''),

Simone Peterzano Simone Peterzano () was an Italian Mannerist painter. Born in Bergamo, he stressed his links to Venice where he probably trained. He is mostly known as the master of Caravaggio. Peterzano called himself a pupil of Titian and would sometimes sign ...

(frescoes in the St. Anthony Chapel),

Ottavio Semino Ottavio Semini (c. 1530–1604) was an Italian painter of the late-Renaissance. He was born and trained in Genoa and died in Milan. He was the son and pupil of Antonio Semini, and was influenced by Perino del Vaga. Aided his brother Andrea in ...

(Brasca Chapel in the transept),

Camillo Procaccini 300px, ''Nativity'' by Camillo Procaccini Camillo Procaccini (3 March 1561 at Parma – 21 August 1629) was an Italian painter. He has been posthumously referred to as the ''Vasari of Lombardy'', for his prolific Mannerist fresco decoration. Bo ...

(frescoes in the transept and in several chapels) and

Giulio Cesare Procaccini Giulio Cesare Procaccini (1574–1625) was an Italian painter and sculptor of the early Baroque era in Milan. Biography Born in Bologna he was son of the Mannerist painter Ercole Procaccini the Elder and brother of Camillo Procaccini and Car ...

(a ''Nativity'', in the

Rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

-style sacristy). The triumphal arch has a frescoes with a solemn ''Incoronation of Mary'' by Stefano Maria Legnani (Legnanino). In the transept is the tomb of Blessed Beatrice Casati, the wife and widow of Francino Rusca, the Earl of Locarno. She raised four children—three sons and one daughter, the latter of whom placed this monument to their mother—and was a devout member of the Franciscan tertiaries. She died in 1490. Her epitaph reads, “Here lies Beatrix, the shining jewel of the Rusca family, who was married to Count Francino. When she was left a widow, the sacred Franciscan Order sustained her in wonderful chastity under the shelter of your wings, and the Third Order provided her with a regime for living such that she rejoices with those who have been blessed by God above.” The convent is a 20th-century addition.

Funerals

The funerals of the Countess and fashion designer Marta

Marzotto The Marzotto Group is an Italian textile manufacturer, based in Valdagno. Created in 1836 as the ''Lanificio Luigi Marzotto & Figli''. In 2005 Marzotto Group's textile business separated from Valentino Fashion Group. The Group manufactures woo ...

took place in Sant'Angelo on 1 August 2016.

Notes

{{Milan landmarks 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Angelo Renaissance architecture in Milan Roman Catholic churches completed in 1630 1630 establishments in Italy Tourist attractions in Milan