The spot where we nowadays find the Duomo Nuovo was occupied by the summer cathedral of San Pietro since the fifth or sixth century. Next to it stood the winter cathedral of Santa Maria Maggiore, which was replaced with the Duomo Vecchio, also known as La Rotonda, in the eleventh…
The three buildings stand side by side along the Piazza Paolo VI in Brescia: the old Duomo, the new Duomo and the Palazzo Broletto, the seat of the comune during the Middle Ages with its imposing, 54-metre-high Torre del Pegol. This post is about the Duomo Vecchio, whose official name…
According to tradition, Faustinus and Jovita were two brothers from Brescia who were martyred during the reign of the Roman emperor Hadrianus (117-138). However, the ‘Acts’ describing their lives were only written much later and are exceptionally unreliable. Apparently this did not prevent the two brothers from becoming patron saints…
The church of Santi Nazaro e Celso is dedicated to two fairly obscure martyrs, Nazarius and Celsus. According to tradition, it was Saint Ambrosius of Milan (ca. 340-397) who dug up their relics in the cemetery surrounding the Basilica Apostolorum, a church he had founded. This basilica was later renamed…
The church of Sant’Alessandro, located at the intersection of the Via Moretto and the Corso Cavour, was not mentioned in any of our travel guides. Fortunately it was mentioned on a free map of the city that had been given to us by the staff of the local tourist information…
The Duomo Museum was opened to the public in 1953. My travel guide to Milan and the Lakes (2010) claimed the museum was closed for renovation, but it seems to have reopened in 2013. Although it is not as impressive as, for instance, the Duomo Museum in Florence, the Museo…
It took us at least an hour and a half to get inside the Duomo. Security measures were pretty tight and there was an awfully long queue outside the cathedral. Soldiers in combat fatigues with machine guns were patrolling the streets and guarding the Duomo, one of Milan’s most famous…
The San Gottardo in Corte is a small church near the Duomo of Milan. It was built as a chapel between 1330 and 1336, on the orders of Azzone Visconti, who was Lord of Milan from 1329 until his death in 1339. It was originally part of the Palazzo del…
The church of Sant’Eustorgio can be found some 400 metres south of the San Lorenzo Maggiore. The church dates back to Late Antiquity and is named after the man who was bishop of Milan between 344 and 349, Saint Eustorgius. Also part of the complex is an interesting museum, which…
The name “Brera” apparently derives from a Germanic word, braida, which means “field of grass”. In this part of the city of Milan, traditionally home to many artists, we find the world-famous Pinacoteca di Brera. It can be found in a palazzo that was built for the Jesuit Order in…
The Castello Sforzesco is a huge castle in the centre of Milan, measuring some 190 by 190 metres. Behind it is the Parco Sempione, one of the largest public parks of the city. The Castello houses a handful of a museums that together are called the Musei Civici. You can…
The driving force behind establishing the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana was Federico Borromeo, archbishop of Milan from 1595 until his death in 1631. Borromeo, cousin of Saint Carlo Borromeo, was an important figure in the counter-Reformation movement. In 1609 he founded the Bibliotheca Ambrosiana, one of the first public libraries in Europe.…
What a wonderful museum! We had not planned to visit the Museo Poldi Pezzoli, but ended up there by chance. Originally we wanted to go and see the famous Chiaravalle Abbey on the outskirts of Milan. However, the abbey was quite far away and since it was our last day…
One of my travel guides calls the San Simpliciano a “little jewel”. That is a bit of an exaggeration, but the church is worth a visit nonetheless. It is one of the three or four churches in Milan founded by Saint Ambrosius (ca. 340-397). The church was completed in 401…
Saint Ambrosius (ca. 340-397) is credited with founding three or four churches in Milan in the late fourth century. The Basilica Martyrum (now the Sant’Ambrogio) was one of them, the Basilica Virginum (now the San Simpliciano) another. The third church was the Basilica Apostolorum, or the Basilica of the Apostles.…
The Sant’Ambrogio is one of the oldest and most important churches in Milan. Built between 379 and 386 by Saint Ambrosius (Anglicised as Ambrose; ca. 340-397) and later named after him, the church is even older than the San Lorenzo Maggiore. According to a brochure provided by the church itself,…
The San Lorenzo is one of the oldest churches in Milan, and certainly one of the most interesting. It is a centrally planned church, and has often been compared to the San Vitale in Ravenna because of its shape. It is more than a century older though. It pays to…
