300px, Facade and bell tower of Santa Maria in Organo. Santa Maria in Organo is a

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 in

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

Northern Italy Northern Italy (, , ) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. The Italian National Institute of Statistics defines the region as encompassing the four Northwest Italy, northwestern Regions of Italy, regions of Piedmo ...

History

The church's origin dates to the 6th–8th century, at the time of the

Ostrogoth The Ostrogoths () were a Roman-era Germanic peoples, Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Goths, Gothic kingdoms within the Western Roman Empire, drawing upon the large Gothic populatio ...

and Lombard dominations in Italy. The original convent was destroyed in

Napoleonic Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led a series of mi ...

times. The church was rebuilt after an earthquake in 1117. It once faced a branch of the

Adige River The Adige is the second-longest river in Italy, after the Po. It rises near the Reschen Pass in the Vinschgau in the province of South Tyrol, near the Italian border with Austria and Switzerland, and flows through most of northeastern Italy ...

, now grounded. From the 14th century it was a parish depending from the

Patriarchate of Aquileia The Patriarchate of Aquileia was an episcopal see and ecclesiastical province in northeastern Italy, originally centered in the ancient city of Aquileia, situated near the northern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It emerged in the 4th century as a m ...

, to which it belonged until its dissolution in 1756. In 1444 it was sold the Olivetan Benedictins, who held it until 1808. The monk Giovanni da Verona executed the

tarsia Tarsia is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy. The ancient town of Caprasia is thought to be the modern Tarsia. Geography The municipality borders with Bisignano, Corigliano Calabro, Roggia ...

s of the wooden choir, and designed the bell tower, finished in 1533. In 1534 five bells were cast in the scale of F, the first peal in Italy. They are rung with

Veronese bellringing art Veronese is the Italian word denoting someone or something from Verona, Italy and may refer to: * Veronese Riddle, a popular riddle in the Middle Ages * ''Veronese'' (moth), a moth genus in the family Crambidae * Monte Veronese, an Italian chee ...

. Starting from 1547 a Romanesque-Gothic façade, in white marble, was begun, designed by

Michele Sanmicheli Michele Sanmicheli, sometimes also transcribed as Sammicheli, Sanmichele or Sammichele (Verona, 1484There is no certainty about the date of his birth. Vasari reports 1484, while architectural historian Giulio Sancassani, through a study of his fat ...

; this has remained unfinished. Among the other possessions, the Abbey held the church of

Santa Maria Maggiore Santa Maria Maggiore (), also known as the Basilica of Saint Mary Major or the Basilica of Saint Mary the Great, is one of the four Basilicas in the Catholic Church#Major and papal basilicas, major papal basilicas and one of the Seven Pilgrim C ...

Gazzo Veronese Gazzo Veronese is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verona in the Italy, Italian region Veneto, located about southwest of Venice and about south of Verona. Gazzo Veronese borders the following municipalities: Casaleone, Nogara, O ...

Interior

The interior is on the Latin cross plan, with a nave and two aisles. It houses a rich collection of paintings, with works by

Girolamo Savoldo Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo, also called Girolamo da Brescia (c. 1480–1485 – after 1548), was an Italian High Renaissance painter active mostly in Venice, although he also worked in other cities in northern Italy. He is noted for his subtle use ...

Domenico Morone Domenico Morone ( 1442 – 1518) was an Italian painter from Verona, painting in an early Renaissance style. Much of his work has not survived, notably his fresco cycles. He was considered by Vasari to be second only to Liberale da Verona among ...

, Francesco Morone,

Antonio Balestra Antonio Balestra (12 August 1666 – 21 April 1740) was an Italian painter of the Rococo period. Biography Born in Verona, he first apprenticed there with Giovanni Zeffio. By 1690 he moved to Venice, where he worked for three years under Anto ...

and

Guercino Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666),Miller, 1964 better known as (il) Guercino (), was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vigorous n ...

among the others. Under the presbytery is the crypt, a relic of the High Middle Ages edifice. The columns maintain the 8th-century capitals. It has works by

Luca Giordano Luca Giordano (18 October 1634 – 3 January 1705) was an Italian late-Baroque painter and printmaker in etching. Fluent and decorative, he worked successfully in Naples, Rome, Florence, and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain. Early l ...

, Francesco Morone, and

, along with the popular ''Muletta'', a wooden sculpture from the 14th century, which depicts ''Jesus entering Jerusalem riding a mule''.

External links

The tarsias of the choir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Maria In Organo Maria in Organo Maria in Organo

History

Interior

See also

External links