Santi Pietro e Paolo ("St. Peter and Paul", in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

, ''Chiesa parrocchiale dei Santi Apostoli Pietro e Paolo'') is located in

Arese Arese ( lmo, Ares ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Milan in the Italian region Lombardy, about northwest of Milan. Arese borders the following municipalities: Lainate, Garbagnate Milanese, Bollate, Rho, Milan. Arese ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, Lombardy. It is dedicated to the Christian figures of

Saint Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupat ...

and

Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

. It was built to replace the old parish church of Saint Peter (the first church in Arese), which had become too small for the growing community. Construction began in 1880, on the initiative of the local priest

Don Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vill ...

Enrico Mora. The new church was funded, and blessed, by

Monsignor Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ca ...

Giuseppe Negri in 1882. The construction of the church was completed in 1938, and underwent re- consecration in 1982, on the occasion of the centenary of the foundation.

History

From the early 17th century, significant regional population growth created issues and inconveniences for church goers attending local religious functions in the city. Many of them were forced to follow the

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

from outside the existing building due to the lack of space. As a consequence, the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

priest decided to give the community a larger and more functional church. Due to limited financial resources in the community, three members of the parochial vestry (Carlo Airoldi, Carlo Borghi e Carlo Minola) appointed themselves to raise funds through donations. The majority of financial funds came from local landowners and entrepreneurs who wanted to demonstrate their feelings of attachment towards the community, devotion and loyalty. The project for the new church was realized and managed by the engineer and architect Enrico Strada. The estimated cost for the work to be completed was 43 049 liras (the old Italian currency). Strada gave custody of the project to the local engineer Giuseppe Gallazzi (from

) and to the master builder Giuseppe Airaghi (from Passirana,

Rho Rho (uppercase Ρ, lowercase ρ or ; el, ρο or el, ρω, label=none) is the 17th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 100. It is derived from Phoenician letter res . Its uppercase form uses the sa ...

). Members of the local community also got involved in the project. The new church was completed in 1882 and blessed by Monsignor Giuseppe Negri. The estimated budget was surpassed, and the final cost was about 60 000 liras. Due to the limited amount of funds available, the church did not match the expectations of a part of the community. For example, the facade (the front of the church) was unfinished, the walls were not decorated, and the windows had no decorative panels. The black

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

altar, which was kept from the old church, was out of proportion compared to the extended structure of the new church. More funds were necessary to carry on the project. For these reasons, in 1885, Monsignor Giuseppe Negri donated to the parish an additional 20 000 liras. This donation was used to contribute to the construction of the bell tower, which was completed in 1886, by the engineer Cesare Nava. After the building of the bell tower, a new donation was necessary to substitute the old bells, which did not conform to the church's new structure. The number of bells increased from three to five. Thanks to contributions from the community, the priest collected approximately 15 200 liras and in 1887 the bell tower and its new bells were consecrated.

Architecture and decorations

The final decorative and executive project was assigned to the architect Zanchetta, who was inspired by the

Neoclassical architecture Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

used in Milan at that time. Zanchetta reused the classical style, inspired by

Ancient Greek architecture Ancient Greek architecture came from the Greek-speaking people (''Hellenic'' people) whose culture flourished on the Greek mainland, the Peloponnese, the Aegean Islands, and in colonies in Anatolia and Italy for a period from about 900 BC unti ...

(especially

Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

and Ionic). He studied the ancient architecture and recreated a more modern and authentic style. The building evidences a dramatic use of

columns A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression membe ...

. These were are not used to carry the weight of the building's structure but as a graphical and decorative element. The church has a salient structure and three aisles. The facade is an example of Neoclassical architecture: it is linear, flat, long and does not have any decorations. Affresco due chiesa arese

The church is characterized by a marble altar which was sculpted by a company located in Milan in 1913. This altar is accompanied by two

frescoes Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster ...

, made by Mario Grandi Chiodo, representing the Conversion of Paul the Apostle and

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

handing over the keys to St. Peter. The

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...

is decorated with a fresco made by Angelo Galloni in 1938 and represents the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

of Mount Carmel, patroness of the Carmelite Order. Of particular interest is a pipe organ which is situated in the counter-front of the church, near the main entrance. In 1931, the parish priest began dealing with the decorations of the church and conceived the design of the individuals to portray on the walls near the main altar. He consulted famous painters and decorators and allocated the work to Comazzi (from Milan). The parish priest wanted Comazzi to paint two big frescos. Comazzi could not complete the work due to lack of time, and custody of the work was given to another painter, Mario Grandi. The frescos were completed in July 1931. Don Fedeli was satisfied with the work, but almost four years were necessary to repay the two painters. In 1934, some artistic glass walls were attached to the windows of the church as decorations.

The Chapel

In 1938, the

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

of the church was finally decorated, based on designs by the parish priest. The large fresco was painted by Gallone (from Milan) who had already painted the walls near the main altar. The cost of the work was approximately 20 000 liras. At the end of the year, when the work was completed, the community began thinking about finishing the construction of the parish church, which had begun 60 years earlier.

The Square

The square in front of the church is called St. Peter and Paul Square (in Italian, ''Piazza Ss. Pietro e Paolo''). It includes buildings from the 8th century, including the reconstructed town castle (now used as council offices), and the old aristocratic “''Villa Borghi''”, which has become a cloister that houses the town's

Salesian , image = File:Stemma big.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , abbreviation = SDB , formation = , founder = John Bosco , founding_location = Valdocco, Turin ...

nuns order. In front of the square is a winding alley, called St. Anna Road, in which some elements of the old agricultural hamlet are retained. “''Villa Galeazzi''”, which is located at the end of this narrow street, is an old

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

still inhabited by the original family owners. Inside this villa there is a garden that hides a small private chapel.

Gallery

File:Altar (right) of the Church of St. Peter and Paul, Arese.jpg, Altar (right) of the Church of St. Peter and Paul, Arese File:Left Chapel of the Church of St. Peter and Paul, Arese.jpg, Left Chapel of the Church of St. Peter and Paul, Arese File:Croce dorata.jpg, Gold-plated cross in the right chapel of the Church of St. Peter and Paul, Arese File:Candelabro cappella.jpg, Candel-holder in the right chapel if the Church of St. Peter and Paul, Arese File:Affresco altare lato destro.jpg, Painting in the right side of the Church of St.Peter and Paul, Arese File:Affresco chiesa sx.jpg, Painting in the left side of the Church of St.Peter and Paul, Arese File:Angelo chiesa.jpg, The raffiguration on a colon in the left side of the Church of St.Peter and Paul, Arese File:Arese - chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo - campanile.jpg, Bell tower of the Church of St.Peter and Paul, Arese File:Arese - chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo - interno - organo.jpg, Pipe Organ in the Church of St. Peter and Paul, Arese File:Vetrata della chiesa.jpg, Grass window in the church representing the love of Jesus in the right side of the Church of St. Peter and Paul, Arese File:Statua Madonna.jpg, Statue of Mary, mother of Jesus located in the left chapel of the Church of St.Peter and Paul, Arese

References

External links

Official website of Arese
{{in lang, it Churches in the metropolitan city of Milan Roman Catholic churches completed in 1938 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy