San Sisto is a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

style,

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church, located on the Via of the same name in north-central

Piacenza Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...

, Region of Emilia Romagna,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

History

The church and an adjacent convent and hospital were founded in 874 by Queen Angilberga, wife of the Emperor Louis II. She had been exiled some years after his death, but in 882, she was allowed to return to Italy, where she became abbess of the

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

convent, presumably this one. The convent became wealthy due to grants of significant privileges and properties in northern Italy. Over the centuries, several orders of monks and nuns competed for control of the convent until 1425, when it was assigned to the Benedictine order of

Monte Cassino The Abbey of Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a Catholic Church, Catholic, Benedictines, Benedictine monastery on a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Valle Latina, Latin Valley. Located on the site of the ancient ...

. In 1499, the convent commissioned the present church building from Alessio Tramello. It was consecrated in 1511.

Facade

The

Mannerist Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...

facade was not competed until 1591. Asymmetries and odd touches abound. Side doors are smaller than the central one. The entry portal has a broken tympanum holding a central statuary niche within a rounded arch with a central bracket. The ground floor of the facade has half-columns, while the second floor has shorter pilasters topped by smiling

gorgon The Gorgons ( ; ), in Greek mythology, are three monstrous sisters, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, said to be the daughters of Phorcys and Ceto. They lived near their sisters the Graeae, and were able to turn anyone who looked at them to sto ...

masks that drain rainwater through their mouths. The central

rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' wa ...

is framed in a square, again with a broken tympanum and two central brackets. The facade has three life-sized statues of San Germano, San Sisto, and St. Benedict. San Sisto is the church's namesake, while San Germano and St. Benedict are both associated with Cassino, the location of the first Benedictine monastery. The busts of two female saints, Barbara and Martina, also appear on the façade, above each of the side windows. The adjacent Renaissance-style convent (1591–1596) is owned by the military and closed to visitors. The cloister has a number of medallions frescoed by Bernardino Zacchetti.

Interior

The interior has chapels frescoed by Antonio and

Vincenzo Campi Vincenzo Campi (; c.1530/1535–1591) was a 16th-century Italians, Italian painter working in Cremona during the Late Renaissance. Campi is best known as one of the first Northern Italy, northern Italian artists to work in the Flemish painting, F ...

, there is an altarpiece and a in the choir of ''massacre of the innocents'' 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. Bo ...

and another painting by Jacopo Palma il Giovane in the choir. The cupola at the center of the transept was frescoed by Bernardino Zacchetti. At the end of the Nave, in the choir of the apse is a copy of the Raphael's ''

Sistine Madonna The ''Sistine Madonna'', also called the ''Madonna di San Sisto'', is an oil painting by the Italian artist Raphael. The painting was commissioned in 1512 by Pope Julius II for the church of San Sisto, Piacenza, and probably executed ''c.'' 15 ...

'' attributed to

Pietro Antonio Avanzini Pietro Antonio Avanzini (1656–1733) was an Italian painter. Biography He was born in Piacenza, trained by Marcantonio Franceschini in Bologna, and described as a painter of little originality, often copying his master's designs Among his works ...

. To the great loss of Piacenza, the Benedictines pawned off the original in 1754 to Augustus III, King of Poland for the lordly sum of twelve thousand zecchini. The painting is now one of the masterpieces on display at the Gemäldegalerie in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

; To the left of the transept is the altar and tomb dedicated to

Margaret of Parma Margaret (; 5 July 1522 – 18 January 1586) was Duchess of Parma from 1547 to 1586 as the wife of Duke Ottavio Farnese and Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands from 1559 to 1567 and from 1578 to 1582. She was the illegitimate daughter of Ch ...

, designed by

Simone Moschino Simone Moschino (12 November 1553 - 20 June 1610) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor and architect, born in Orvieto as Simone Simoncelli. The son of the court sculptor Francesco Mosca (Il Moschino), Francesco Mosca and nephew of Simone Mosca, ...

. On the facing side is the monumental chapel of

St Barbara Saint Barbara (; ; ; ), known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an early Christian Greek saint and martyr. There is no reference to her in the authentic early Christian writings nor in the original recension of Sai ...

(1926), patron saint of artillery men. The nave ceiling is painted with a pattern of a ''cassettoni'' or geometric squares on a barrel ceiling.Comune of Piacenza
church entry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sisto, Piacenza Roman Catholic churches in Piacenza Renaissance architecture in Piacenza 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Roman Catholic churches completed in 1591 Christian monasteries established in the 9th century Mannerist architecture in Italy