Santa Maria del Carmine.
Our Trotter travel guide gave the immense church of Santa Maria del Carmine just one little trotter. One trotter means: a tip, but not “interesting” (two little trotters) or “not to be missed” (three little trotters). Despite the rather low score, I would nonetheless certainly recommend a visit to this church. After visits to the churches of San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro, San Michele Maggiore and San Teodoro – which are all examples of the Lombardian Romanesque style –, it was quite refreshing to be able to explore a Gothic church as well. Although we do not find any great works of art in the Santa Maria del Carmine, the various paintings and frescoes are nevertheless interesting. During our visit we met a couple of saints of whose existence we were completely unaware, including a patron saint of cheesemakers. Being Dutch, we certainly appreciated the presence of this Saint Lucius (San Lucio).
History and exterior
After the Milanese Visconti family had taken control of Pavia in 1359, Galeazzo II Visconti ordered the construction of the Castello Visconteo there. An older church of the Carmelites in Pavia was demolished to make room for this new castle. To compensate the friars, Galeazzo granted them another church in a different location and also awarded them the financial means to build a whole new church. The first architect was presumably Bernardo di Venezia, the man who had also led the construction of the Castello Visconteo and who in 1396 would start the construction of the Certosa di Pavia. Construction of the Santa Maria del Carmine started in 1374, and the gigantic new church was only completed in 1461. Its bell-tower dates from ca. 1450, work on the façade was finished in 1490 and it was not until 1498 that the last side chapels were completed. The church has no less than 16 side chapels, while in the transept we find a few more chapels. Over the course of the centuries these were filled with many works of art.
Façade with rose window.
Interior of the church.
The façade with its six Gothic windows and large Gothic rose window is still largely original. Only the portals are nineteenth-century works by Giuseppe Marchesi (1778-1867), while the reliefs in the lunettes were made by another Marchesi, Luigi Marchesi. I have not been able to find any biographical information about this sculptor, but he was certainly not the Luigi Marchesi (1754-1829) who became famous as a castrato opera singer. High on the façade, on either side of the rose window and above it, we see three statues. The statues of the archangel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary together form an Annunciation. Above them we see a statue of God the Father. The three statues were sculpted in the style of the architect and sculptor Giovanni Antonio Amadeo (ca. 1447-1522). This pretty much sums up the decorations of the façade. What we see is best described as an impressive brick screen.
Interior
At first glance the interior of the church appears somewhat dark and boring, but if we take a better look, we will discover several interesting things. The left transept for instance has a number of votive frescoes, made by painters from the school of Michelino da Besozzo (ca. 1370-1455). In the middle of these frescoes hangs an altarpiece by Bernardino Lanzani (ca. 1460-1530) from 1515. It features the Holy Family – Jesus, Mary, Anne and Joachim – with Saint John the Evangelist with an eagle at his feet. A second, slightly older altarpiece by Lanzani can be found in the Cappella dell’Immacolata, which is the last chapel on the right side. In this altarpiece we see the Madonna and Child flanked by Saints Augustinus and Ambrosius, patron saints of Pavia and Milan respectively.
We became acquainted with a new saint when we studied a fifteenth-century altarpiece against the counter-façade. It features Our Lady of Mercy (the Madonna delle Grazie) flanked by Saint Julius of Novara and Saint Anthony the Abbot. The cult of Saint Julius, a fourth-century missionary who is said to have died on an island in the Lago d’Orta that was later named after him, was especially popular in Northern Italy. Anthony the Abbot (ca. 251-356), the father of monastic life, can be identified by his staff and bell. He is usually depicted with a pig, but the animal he has at his feet here looks more like a dog. A second new saint whom we got to know was Saint Lucius (San Lucio di Cavargna). He was a shepherd and cheesemaker who lived near Lake Como in the twelfth or thirteenth century. Lucius is depicted with a knife and a round cheese from which a piece has already been cut. The other saint in the fresco is Saint Lucia of Syracuse. The artist responsible for the fresco was Leonardo Vidolenghi da Marzano (1446-1502).
It is much more difficult to identify the makers of the other votive frescoes. In one of them, a Pietà dated 1413, a certain ANTONIVS DE FERRARIIS (Antonio of Ferrara) declares that he commissioned the fresco in memory of his wife and son. In another fresco we see a more elaborate Pietà with a background featuring a river with ships and a castle. Those who are looking for more modern works will enjoy a visit to the church of Santa Maria del Carmine as well, as the church also possesses paintings by Sebastiano Ricci (1659-1734) and Guglielmo Caccia (1568-1625), nicknamed Moncalvo.
Sources: Trotter travel guide Northwest Italy (2016), p. 399, Chiesa di Santa Maria del Carmine (Pavia) – Wikipedia and Santa Maria del Carmine – Spendiamo a Pavia.