The Tempio Civico della Beata Vergine Incoronata is a church in Lodi, Lombardy

Lombardy

Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. It is considered one of the masterworks of the Lombard Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

 art. The church was designed in 1488 by Giovanni Battagio

Giovanni Battagio

Giovanni Battagio was an Italian sculptor and architect.A follower of Giovanni Antonio Amadeo, from 1483 he worked on Santa Maria presso San Satiro and other buildings in Milan. He designed the Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Croce in Crema, and the Tempio Civico dell'Incoronata in Lodi, one of the...

 (a pupil of Bramante), continued by Gian Giacomo Dolcebuono

Gian Giacomo Dolcebuono

Gian Giacomo Quadri, known as Dolcebuono was an Italian architect and sculptor.Born probably in Lugano, he was a relative of Giacomo Antonio Dolcebuono, who had provided one of the first projects for the façade of the Certosa di Pavia. Quadri apprenticed in the Milanese workshop of Giovanni and...

 and finished by Giovanni Antonio Amadeo

Giovanni Antonio Amadeo

thumb|260px|The Colleoni Chapel in Bergamo.Giovanni Antonio Amadeo was an Italian early Renaissance sculptor, architect, and engineer....

, and built at expenses of the Lodi commune, whence the denomination "Civico" ("Municipal"), on the site previously occupied by a brothel.

Overview

The church is located in a very narrow near the Piazza della Vittoria, Lodi's most famous square. It has an octagonal plan, surmounted by a dome with the same shape with a lantern

Lantern

A lantern is a portable lighting device or mounted light fixture used to illuminate broad areas. Lanterns may also be used for signaling, as 'torches', or as general light sources outdoors . Low light level varieties are used for decoration. The term "lantern" is also used more generically to...

 at the top. Externally, running around the octagonal tambour is a balaustrade with small columns and pinnacles. The bell tower was built in 1503, while the façade was completed only in 1879 by Alfonsino Truzzi.

The interior is characterized by sumptuous decorations in gold; in the upper sector is an arcaded matronaeum with blue and golden columns. It also houses a large gallery of artworks from the late 15th to the early 19th century, executed by the major artists working in Lodi. There are four panels by Bergognone, including an Annunciation and a Presentation at the Temple, reproducing the church's interior of the time. By Martino and Albertino Piazza is the Berinzaghi Polyptych and an Incoronation of the Virgin. Finally, Callisto Piazza

Callisto Piazza

Callisto Piazza was an Italian painter.-Biography:Callisto, a member of the Piazza family of painters, was born in Lodi, Lombardy....

 and Stefano Maria Legnani

Stefano Maria Legnani

Stefano Maria Legnani , also known as "Legnanino", was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Milan. He was a pupil of his father, the painter Ambrogio Legnani. He then went on to work in the studio of Carlo Cignani in Bologna, and Carlo Maratta in Rome. In Novara, he painted...

executed here some of his greatest works.

Annexed is a Museum of the Incoronata's Treasure.

Sources