Santa Croce Church, Mortara, Italy

The original church at the site of Santa Croce was founded in 1080, outside the walls of the village under the patronage of Pope Gregory VII. With the expansion of the town, the church was rebuilt in 1596 using designs of Pellegrino Tibaldi.

One of the holy relics of the church is putatively a foot print of Christ, though made of Carrara marble, and, according to the tradition, dating back to the period of the Crusades. It is located between two of the chapels on a pilaster strip. In the third chapel on the right there is a canvas depicting the Adoration of Magi (1533) by Bernardino Lanino. In the fourth chapel, the altarpiece depicting St Michael defeating Satan by Guglielmo Caccia, also called Il Moncalvo. In the counterfacade there are two tempera canvases (1545) depicting Our Lady of the Annunciation and Archangel Gabriel, attributed to the Vigevanese painter Bernardino Ferrari.

The fourth chapel on the left exhibits a Virgin and Child and Saints by the 16th-century Venetian school and a 15th-century fresco representing St Augustine.

References:

Wikipedia

Religious sites in Italy

User Reviews

Tino Gilardini (3 years ago)
Beautiful, well maintained, to visit.

Rosangela Rizzo (3 years ago)
La Casa Di Dio is always the best and most beautiful place to stay.

Luca Tirnusciolo (4 years ago)
The abbey complex, consisting of the church and the annexed Lateran palace, was built after the destruction of the monastery of the Mortari order, which was located outside the city walls. The Lateran canons, in which the Mortarians had converged, obtained the reconstruction of a religious building with an adjoining monastery, within the walls. The Laternanese palace was built as a monastery in 1573, after the Laternanese canons were forced to leave the ancient extramural mortarial monastery. The design of the church is the work of Pellegrino Tibaldi (1527-1596). The façade was partially built and was only completed in 1957. The restorations of the 1960s changed the original internal structure of the building. Other interventions took place more recently and the main altar was renovated at the beginning of the 21st century.

Paol Mony (5 years ago)
Beautiful Good reception

SGV BoX (5 years ago)
Beautiful. Does anyone know if there is an email from the parish secretary?

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright Max Streltcov

Historic Site of the week

House of Blackheads

House of the Blackheads (Melngalvju nams) is a building situated in the old town of Riga. The original building was erected during the first third of the 14th century for the Brotherhood of Blackheads, a guild for unmarried German merchants in Riga. Major works were done in the years 1580 and 1886, adding most of the ornaments.

The structure was bombed to a ruin by the Germans June 28, 1941 and the remains demolished by the Soviets in 1948. The current reconstruction was erected from 1995 to 1999. Today the House of Blackheads serves as a museum and sometimes concert hall.

Santa Croce Church

Address

Details

More Information

Rating

Interesting Sites Nearby

User Reviews

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Finest Norman castles in Italy

Exploring the History of Northern Poland

Discovering Slovenia's Historic Wonders

Historic Site of the week

House of Blackheads