San Marco is a church in

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 ...

, northern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

History

According to tradition, the church was dedicated to St. Mark, patron of

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, after the help given by that city in the war against

Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on ...

in the 12th century. However, the first mention of the church dates from 1254 when the

Augustinians Augustinians are members of Christian religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about 400 AD by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13 ...

built a

Gothic style Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

edifice with a nave and two aisles re-using pre-existing constructions. The area of present Via San Marco contained a basin (artificial lake) called ''Laghetto di San Marco'' which connected to various canals (navigli); the basin was filled in the 1930s, and the area now sports a frequent outdoor market. The structure was heavily modified in the

Baroque style The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

during the 17th century, when it became the largest church in the city after the

Duomo di Milano Milan Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Milano ; lmo, Domm de Milan ), or Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Nativity of Saint Mary ( it, Basilica cattedrale metropolitana di Santa Maria Nascente, links=no), is the cathedral church of Milan, Lombard ...

. In early 1770, the young

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

resided in the monastery of San Marco for three months and, on May 22, 1874, the first anniversary of the death of the Milanese poet and novelist

Alessandro Manzoni Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Antonio Manzoni (, , ; 7 March 1785 – 22 May 1873) was an Italian poet, novelist and philosopher. He is famous for the novel '' The Betrothed'' (orig. it, I promessi sposi) (1827), generally ranked among the maste ...

was commemorated in the church by the first performance of

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

's ''

Requiem A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...

'', written in his honour. Organists at the church have included

Ruggier Trofeo Ruggier Trofeo (c. 1550 - September 19, 1614) was an Italian composer and organist. His name is sometimes rendered as Ruggiero De Trofeis. Trofeo appears to have been a native of Mantua; an anthology of music by natives of that city contains one m ...

Art and architecture

The façade dates from an 1871 restoration by

Carlo Maciachini Carlo Francesco Maciachini (sometimes spelled Maciacchini; 2 April 1818 – 10 June 1899) was an Italian architect and restorer. Born near Varese, he studied in Milan, where he also realized some of his most important works, most notably the Monum ...

, who kept the marble portal with tympanum, a gallery of small arches, the rose window and three statues of saints attributed to

Giovanni di Balduccio Giovanni di Balduccio (c. 1290 – after 1339) was an Italian sculptor of the Medieval period. Life The artist was born in Pisa, and likely did not train directly with the famous Pisan sculptor Andrea Pisano. He travelled to Milan to help s ...

or the Master of Viboldone. In the

lunette A lunette (French ''lunette'', "little moon") is a half-moon shaped architectural space, variously filled with sculpture, painted, glazed, filled with recessed masonry, or void. A lunette may also be segmental, and the arch may be an arc take ...

is a mosaic representing the Madonna between Saints, a copy of the original by Angelo Inganni. The

campanile A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

dates from the 14th century. It was restored and completed in 1885. The interior, in the Baroque style, has a nave and two aisles. In the first chapel on the right are frescoes by

Gian Paolo Lomazzo Gian Paolo Lomazzo (26 April 1538 – 27 January 1592; his first name is sometimes also given as "Giovan" or "Giovanni") was an Italian artist and writer on art. Praised as a painter, Lomazzo wrote about artistic practice and art theory after ...

. In the right transept is a fresco by the FiammenghiniBrothers

Giovanni Battista della Rovere Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * '' Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend ...

(1560 or 1561 - 1627) and

Giovanni Mauro Della Rovere Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * '' Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend ...

(1575-1640), painters active in Milan. with ''Alexander IV Instituting the Order of the Augustinians'', under which a 14th-century ''Crucifixion'' was discovered in 1956. The author of the latter has been identified by

Anovelo da Imbonate Anovelo da Imbonate was an Italian painter and manuscript illuminator of the 14th and 15th century, active in a Gothic style in Milan. Little is known about his biography. He was likely born near Como, Italy. He signed the illuminated ''Messale ...

. The right arms of the transept houses also several sarcophagi from the mid-14th century, including the tomb of Lanfranco Settalo, counsellor of Archbishop Giovanni Visconti, by

. Near the rear exit is a 16th-century tombstone portraying the ''Angel of the Resurrection'', another fresco by the Fiammenghini (under which is a 14th-century fresco). On the side walls of the presbytery are frescoes depicting ''Dispute of St Ambrose and St Augustine'' by

Camillo Procaccini 300px, ''Nativity'' by Camillo Procaccini Camillo Procaccini (3 March 1561 at Parma – 21 August 1629) was an Italian painter. He has been posthumously referred to as the ''Vasari of Lombardy'', for his prolific Mannerist fresco decoration. Bor ...

and the ''Baptism of St. Augustine'' by

Giovanni Battista Crespi Giovanni Battista Crespi (23 December 1573 – 23 October 1632), called Il Cerano, was an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect. Biography He was born in Romagnano Sesia, the son of a painter, Raffaele Crespi, and moved to Cerano with his ...

Gallery

8489 - Milano - San Marco - Fiammenghini - Alessandro IV istituisce gli agostiniani - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto - 14-Apr-2007a.jpg, ''Pope Alexander IV institutes Augustinian Order'' (fresco) by Fiammenghini (and partially revealed older ''Crucifixion'' fresco) Milano San Marco Campanile.JPG, Bell tower of San Marco. Marc lomaz.jpg, ''Madonna with Saints'' by

. File:Milano - San Marco - Maria Bambina in cera - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto 14-Apr-2007.jpg, Wax statuette, in the fashion of the 19th century, of Holy Child Mary, Left transept.

References

Sources

* {{Authority control 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Gothic architecture in Milan

Marco Marco may refer to: People * Marco (given name), people with the given name Marco * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish c ...

Tourist attractions in Milan