Founded in 379 AD by Saint Ambrose, the great bishop of Milan, the Basilica of Sant Ambrogio is one of the oldest churches in the city and one of the most important Romanesque buildings in northern Italy. The current structure dates largely from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, rebuilt on the lines of the early Christian basilica. The exterior is dominated by a broad atrium, an open colonnaded courtyard in front of the church that recalls the early Christian custom of separating the catechumens from the faithful, and by two unmatched bell towers of different ages, one Romanesque, the other older and stockier. The arrangement gives the church a distinctive silhouette unlike anything in Rome. Inside, the three aisles are divided by heavy piers supporting a series of cross-vaulted bays, a structural innovation that influenced the development of Romanesque architecture across northern Europe. The nave culminates in the high altar, sheltered beneath a remarkable golden ciborium of the ninth century resting on four porphyry columns. The golden altar frontal beneath the ciborium, made around 835 by the goldsmith Vuolvinius for Bishop Angilbert II, is one of the masterpieces of Carolingian art, with embossed and enamelled scenes from the lives of Christ and Saint Ambrose on its four sides, the rear panels less worn than the front because they were less often touched by pilgrims. The remains of Saint Ambrose himself lie in the crypt beneath the altar, alongside those of two earlier martyrs, Gervasius and Protasius, all three displayed in vestments behind glass. Mosaics in the apse and frescoes in the side chapels add further layers to the long history of decoration. A small museum in the cloister adjoining the basilica contains liturgical objects, illuminated manuscripts and fragments of older decoration, and the wider neighbourhood around the church is among the more historic in central Milan, with the building serving as a recurring landmark in the early religious history of the city for more than sixteen hundred years.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: Piazza Sant Ambrogio 15, Milan, Italy

Opening Date: 01/01/0386