San Michele al Pozzo Bianco is a church in the upper town of Bergamo, on a small piazza of the same name, near Porta Sant’Agostino. The church is now in a corner next to the frescoed house of the vicar, entered by a large rounded arch.
Founded in the 8th century, it was rebuilt many times over the centuries. The present facade is from the early 20th century. Much of the interior was rebuilt in the 15th century, and covered with frescoes in a style influenced by Byzantine iconography.
The chapel to the left, completed later, has a series of frescoed panels Scenes from the Life of The Virgin Mary (1525), masterworks by Lorenzo Lotto. The central chapel and the one on the right is frescoed (1577) by Giovan Battista Guarinoni d'Averara. The latter chapel has a canvas Madonna and child with Saints Peter and Paul by Giovanni Paolo Lolmo.
On the right wall, there is a Madonna of the Rosary and Saints by Enea Salmeggia and in the counterfacade, two frescoes by Antonio Cifrondi depicting Christ and the adulterous woman and the Last Supper. The crypt has 13th-century frescoes, and one of a Enthroned Madonna and Saints, attributed to Antonio Boselli.
References:The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.
The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.
The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.