Chiesa di Sant'Agnese

The Church of Sant’Agnese in Lodi preserves a Gothic hall-church interior and works associated with the city’s Augustinian history. Its collection includes fragments of Gothic frescoes and the Galliani polyptych, painted by Alberto Piazza around 1520.

Why it matters

Sant’Agnese is a distinctive example of Lodi’s Gothic architecture. Its naves rise to a similar height beneath pointed brick vaults, forming a unified hall rather than a tall central nave over lower aisles. The church’s Augustinian history is reflected in its Passion frescoes, a late-Gothic wooden crucifix and the polyptych commissioned by an Augustinian prior.

What to notice

The façade has brick half-columns and pinnacles, with a recessed portal decorated with polychrome bowls and tiles. Inside, three naves of similar height rest on cylindrical piers beneath cross vaults; a polygonal apse has a sail vault. A Passion fresco cycle is associated with the circle of Michelino da Besozzo, and a Virgin and Child with Saints Augustine and Catherine is attributed to Matteo della Chiesa. Alberto Piazza’s Galliani polyptych, painted around 1520, occupies the first altar on the right; its central panel shows Saint Augustine scourging heretics. A fifteenth-century crucifix stands in the apse.

Context and history

The church passed to the Conventual Augustinians in 1351 and was enlarged late in the century under Bishop Bonifacio Botticella, also recorded as Bottigella. Later, the Lateran Canons Regular occupied it briefly before the Hermits of Saint Augustine returned. Their tenure ended with the Cisalpine suppression of 23 June 1798, after which the church became subsidiary to San Lorenzo. The present neo-Gothic façade and the lunette of Saint Agnes date to the late nineteenth century. The building has continued as a parish church.