
CHIESA DI SANTA MARIA IN SAN SATIRO

The objective lack of room, due to the presence at the time of a street passing behind the church site, has been an opportunity for Donato Bramante to create something unique.
The genius behind the construction of the Florence Cathedral dome, has compressed the apsis of Santa Maria in San Satiro in just 95 centimeters. A trick that the pilgrim will perceive only when she will walk to the end of one of the side naves. A great visual effect that makes this little church one of the coolest thing, capable of attracting 180.000 visitors every year.
The church of Santa Maria presso San Satiro counts at least two more places of great interest for the visitor: the chapel – thanks to the will of archibishop Anspertus in the IX century – and the octagonal Sacristy, turned Baptistry at the end of the XIX century, also due to the genius of Donato Bramante.
Enriched by fragments of middle age frescos and by the dramatic clay group sculpture figuring lament over the corps of Christ, precious work from 1483 by Agostino De Fundulis, the chapel cherishes the original spirit of intimate memorial site.
The icon of the Virgin Mary on the altar at the center of the main nave, dates back to the XII century.
(Testo italiano qui)