San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore

San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore is a sixteenth-century church with an extensive fresco cycle. Its single nave is divided by a tramezzo into the hall of the faithful and the nuns' choir, both decorated with paintings.

Why it matters

Milanese visitors call it the "Sistine Chapel" of their city, and the comparison is about density: saints, martyrs and donors cover nearly every wall surface within illusionistic painted architecture, executed across the whole span of the Cinquecento. Bernardino Luini and his workshop lead the cast, joined by Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, a pupil of Leonardo, by Vincenzo Foppa, by the Campi brothers and by Simone Peterzano, Caravaggio's master — artists representing several generations of Lombard painting. The church also preserves the social architecture of a cloister: a tramezzo wall splits the rectangle into the hall of the faithful and the concealed choir of the nuns, who came from the city's most powerful families.

What to notice

The lunettes of the tramezzo depict two kneeling donors, probably Alessandro Bentivoglio and Ippolita Sforza; their daughter Bianca became abbess in 1522 as Sister Alessandra. The Antegnati organ, built between 1554 and 1557, has painted shutters by Francesco Medici da Seregno and was restored in 1982. Bernardino Luini painted the martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria; Matteo Bandello associated the saint's face with the Countess of Challant. The Ornavasso-stone facade was completed in 1574 by Francesco Pirovano.

Context and history

The church faces Corso Magenta beside the Civic Archaeological Museum, on the site of the Monastero Maggiore, the most important Benedictine nunnery in Milan from the eighth or ninth century until 1798. Rebuilt in the sixteenth century at the height of the city's artistic season, it survived the suppression of the monastic orders in 1798, after which the monastery served as barracks, school, police headquarters and military hospital. Opening the new streets of Via Ansperto from 1865 and Via Luini in 1867 cut the church off from the conventual range, which became the home of the Archaeological Museum from 1964–65. Its present public life is supported by the Touring Club Italiano volunteers of "Aperti per Voi".