The Sanctuary of Saronno: Historical Notes Luigi Lazzaroni Andina An impassable barrier to the north, desire to build a grand house of cles of art! a veritable line of fortification: this worship to replace the modest cha- The architects barely managed to could describe the many Marian pels already existing to celebrate raise the walls and finish the roof sanctuaries that sprang up at the the miraculous manifestation to before a whole legion of artists foot of the Alps starting in the late Pedretto. poured into Saronno to make this fifteenth century. Like so many Hastening to Saronno, summoned “royal palace of miracles” more Golgothas, the Sacred Mounts pro- by the “deputies” to embellish the sumptuous. If anything, we must tected from above, while standing Sanctuary, on which construction lament the fact that the piling up guard in the valleys below along started right as the new century of decorations on top of each other the major routes of communication began, were the leading artists of and the subsequent inevitable, were sanctuaries like the shrines in the time in Lombardy: architects, overwhelming imposition of the Valtellina, Re in the Ossola area, painters, master stone cutters, car- baroque style limited the ability of Oropa near Biella, Cannero on vers, stucco craftsmen, sculptors, these masterpieces to express their Lake Maggiore. organ makers, engravers, and gil- full splendor and sometimes sti- All of them were inspired by ve- ders. fled the grandeur of the full effect. neration and devotion to the Vir- Early sixteenthcentury celebrities The overall project, prepared by gin Mary. Times were hard for like Giovanni Antonio Amadeo, an unknown architect, called for the Catholic Church, and getting eernardino Luini, Gaudenzio Fer- a ground plan inspired by the cur- harder. After the papal exile in rari, Paolo della Porta, Andrea da rent trends in Lombard Renaissan- Avignon, the “Great Schism,” and Milano, Giulio Oggiono (or Ongo- ce art: the body of the church was the Council of Constance, now the ni), Bernardino Lanino, Vincenzo formed by the atrium, the central impending Protestant Reformation Seregni, Aurelio or Giampiero crossing surmounted by a dome, risked spreading to southwestern Luini, Pellegrino Tibaldi, Benedet- two lateral chapels, and the main Europe. For a long time, Italy and to Antegnati, Camillo and Giulio chapel at the end. Spain were the last bastions. Cesare Procaccini, Carlo Buzzi, In 1507, the house of the deputies It was certainly not the popes who Stefano Legnani and others offe- was finished. In 1508, construction strengthened the defenses, absor- red their contribution, filling the of the dome was completed; it was bed as they were in the pomp and church with major works of art. designed by Giovanni Antonio splendor of Renaissance patronage Enthusiasm for the veneration of Amadeo, one of the main architects and paying little attention to the Mary, the passion of the people, of the school of Bramante, author animus ecclesiae; it was faith in the the zeal of the “deputies of the of the Colleoni chapel in Bergamo, Virgin Mother that gave unity and Sanctuary,” the generosity of do- part of the façade of the Certosa of strength to the Catholic world. In nors, the special attention given to Pavia, the chancel of Santa Maria Lombardy, as well as other parts of Saronno by the high echelons of delle Grazie, and the crossing to- Christendom, sanctuaries began to the Church, and the fear that he- wer of Milan Cathedral. spring up at the end of the fifteenth resies on the other side of the Alps The massive bell tower, designed century and to multiply rapidly. might spread through the Po valley by the architect Paolo della Porta, This is the scenario that provides generated a great rush to produce. was finished in 1516. the background to the laying of The result was another order of Att mid-century, a fervor to create the first stone of the Sanctuary of miracles to accompany the glory resulted in expansion of the buil- Saronno in 1498, in response to a of the Sanctuary: this time mira- ding: a nave and two side aisles of five bays each were added, with the suffocated by a lack of space. and illustrious visits mark the hi- nave connecting to the earlier san- Noteworthy are the head of an old story of our Sanctuary. Saint Char- ctuary. man, a clear reference to the tea- les Borromeo was “at home” here, Work went on until 1580, when the chings of Luini’s master Leonardo so to speak, a man of great piety chapel of the Miracles was demo- da Vinci, as well as some sweet an- and commitment (as opposed to lished, but only after the statue of gels, saints Catherine and Apollo- the Roman popes and cardinals of Our Lady of the Assumption had nia, four sibyls of rare beauty, eight the time), with a strong devotion to been solemnly moved to the left representa tions of the cardinal vir- Mary. nave aisle, where the beautiful Re- tues, and fo men saints (Anthony, He visited frequently and long, and naissance door still survives with Christopher and Sebastian). The it was he who led the imposing pro- its inscription commemorating setting evokes houettes of the foo- cession of clergy and the Milanese the date of the foundation of the thills of the typical atmosphere of people to move the “image of the church: 8 May 1498. Lombardy. After Luini’s death in Blessed Virgin” into the new cha- Pellegrino Tibaldi, better known 1532, Gaudenzio Ferrari was cal- pel, he who presided over the trial as Pellegrini, saint Charles Bor- led to treat comple ferent subjects. examining the miracles, he who romeo’s preferred architect, was From 5 April to 23, painted one- summoned the Oblates, an order he asked by Borromeo to design and hundred-twenty-six fi angel musi- founded, to be responsible for the build the facade, which was fini- cians and cherubs playing different Sanctuary. Illustrious visitors to shed in 1612. Majestic but heavy, it musical instruments. the Sanctuary include all the arch- is in a mannerist style ill suited to This spectacular composition, pre- bishops of Milan, the Arcimboldi, the elegance of the crossing tower. sen extraordinary variety and har- Giovanni Angelo Medici, Federico The work was widely criticized, to mony, cert of music for transport Borromeo, Alfonso Litta, Cardinal the point that engineer Carlo Buzzi into Pa all for only two-hundred Gaetano Gaysruck, the governors drew up a plan to lighten the faca- scudi, along with a bed, wine, and of Milan, members of the Sforza de by giving it an upward thrust, bread. Gaudenzio accompanied and Gonzaga families, Ferdinand building a railing across the top to this work with a tot, type of orna- of Austria, Ranier of Hapsburg, support statues of Our Lady of the mentation to cover tl nal graffito, the grandees of Spain and Austria, Assumption and four angels. and roundels narratin of Adam and Francesco 1, king of the two Sici- Inside the church, artists wor- Eve. lies, and Margherita of Savoy. The ked fervently, first and foremost In the meantime, Andrea da Mil Sanctuary of Saronno is now more Bernardino Luini, who produced Giulio Oggiono carved an Eterná than 500 years old. For the entire forty-one figures, isolated or in giving his blessing at the summi 500 years of its history it has un- groups, and two stained-glass win- dome, Our Lady of the Assumpti ceasingly been a house of worship, dows. His principal works were prophets and sibyls. Nor should retreat and prayer, and the goal of painted in 1525, The Presentation lect to mention the admirable c pilgrimages. in the Temple and The Adoration tions of The Last Supper a Depo- This has fostered the conservation of the Magi; both compositions sition from the Cross. After Gau- of the church and its art works are acknowledged masterpieces denzio came Bernardino Lanino with constant operations of conser- by Luini working in fresco. The and Cesare Magni, who mainly vation and restoration, in truth not Presentation is more monumental, frescoed scenes from the Old Te- all of them orthodox. The building especially in its massive, serene stament and figures of saints on survived World War ll unharmed; architecture, exuding the air of the the vertical walls under the drum. immediately afterwards a major Renaissance in its noble setting; Aurelio and Giampiero Luini pain- cycle of restoration of the frescoes the figures are equally noble, seda- ted Abraham’s Sacrifice of Isaac. was set in motion, with the colla- te, and august. In 1538, in gratitude for the end of boration of the painter Mario Rossi The Adoration of the Magi is more the plague, the church was equip- from Varese and the architect Reg- decorative and folkloristic, with ped with an organ, positioned in giori. In the 1980s another cycle the serene, self-possessed Virgin harmony with the rest of the buil- of restoration was initiated, focu- Mary as the true center of the com- ding. The commission could only sing this time on the deterioration position. In the transept, Luini be awarded to the great Antegnati of the stone and stucco work. With frescoed the Disputation and The family of Lombard organ-makers. this radical intervention, the trea- Marriage of the Virgin, two distin- Its sound filled the church until sury of art and faith that is the San- guished compositions as to details, 1963, when it was replaced. ctuary of Saronno has regained its even though they are somewhat Papal recognitions, pilgrimages, original splendor. .