Church of St Eugenio and Santa Maria at Vigano Certosino (MI)

Via Certosa, 5 20083 Vigano Certosino-Gaggiano (Milano)

Open every day between 8.00 am and 6.30 pm
Mass: Monday-Saturday 6.00 pm (DST), 5.30 pm (solar time). Sunday Mass: 11.00 am
Tel 02 9085316
viganocertosino@chiesamilano.it
www.chiesadimilano.it
www.lombardiabeniculturali.it/luoghi/schede/

The façade and the restorations

This church was completed in April 1511 by the painter Bernardino de Rossi (1484-1514), commissioned by the monks of Certosa (Monastery) of Pavia, and composed by iconographic elements affected by aesthetics of the Certosa itself. The cycle -  not always easy to identify - foresaw in the top, in the middle and above the large circular window, the Eternal Blessing Father, surrounded by angels in flight. Below, in frames crowned by the initials "GRA CAR" (Gratiarum Carthusia or Certosa delle Grazie), the Archangel Gabriele and the Virgin of the Annunciation, placed in marble niches simulating a breakthrough perspective. Maybe, Saint Ugo of Grenoble was shown below, to the left of the portal, and Bishop Eugene was shown on the right. On the pilasters, up, to the left of the Eternal Father, St. Bernardo of Chiaravalle was visible, while, on the right, the Blessed Guglielmo Fenoglio was painted, equipped with a mule’s leg. Above the doorway the medallion with the profile of the donor Gian Galeazzo Visconti appeared, and finally, to the sides of the pilasters, two saints of ample proportions were shown, identified with St. Cristoforo and St. Rocco. The problem of preservation of the façade, which was already particularly evident in a book by Diego Sant'Ambrogio of 1894, was again approached in 1914 by the architect Ambrogio Annoni, of the Royal Commission of Monuments of Lombardy. The immediate "reconstructive" intervention, interrupted by the First World War, and the ones made ​​in the thirties of the last century, were followed by the ripping, made by Pinin Brambilla Barcilon in 1966. Left unprotected between the villages of Vigano and Sporzano, frescoes, stored for a short period on the façade, were moved in 1988 by means of metal frames to semi-rigid foam resin supports (restorer Aldo Di Fonzo). Since 1999, the paintings, waiting for a suitable relocation, were subjected to new restorations in "Nicola" of Aramengo workshop, in the area of Asti.

By Paola Barbara Piccone Conti

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