What to see · Corsico

More places of interest

• Chiesa parrocchiale dei Santi Pietro e Paolo

  The church of Santi Pietro e Paolo is the parish church of Corsico, in the archdiocese of Milan, and belongs to the deanery of Cesano Boscone. The first mention of a church in Corsico dates from the thirteenth century, in the «Liber Notitiae Sanctorum Mediolani», where it appears as dependent on the parish church of San Giovanni Battista of Cesano Boscone; a document of 1398 confirms this. In 1747 Archbishop Giuseppe Pozzobonelli, on a pastoral visit, found it the seat of two confraternities, that of the Blessed Sacrament and that of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Girdle. The first stone of today's church was laid in 1848: the building, designed by Giulio Aluisetti, was completed in 1852.

  What to see

  The façade, neoclassical and stepped, faces west and is made up of three sections. The central one is divided into two registers: below, the architraved main portal and four Ionic pilaster strips carrying the triangular tympanum; above, a semicircular window. The two side wings have the secondary entrances.

  The interior is divided into a nave and two aisles by piers adorned with pilaster strips, which carry round arches; above runs a moulded entablature, decorated with garlands. At the end, the presbytery is raised by four steps and closed by a semicircular apse.

  Visiting

  Opening and Mass times should be checked with the parish. In 1986 a part of its territory was detached to form the new parish of the Spirito Santo.

  Our editors' tip

  Three subsidiary oratories depended on the parish church: San Francesco at Robarello, San Biagio at Grancino and the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Guardia farmstead. Of the last, at the Cascina Guardia di Sotto, there remain the ruins of a small neoclassical church on the bank of the Naviglio Grande.

• Chiesa parrocchiale di Sant'Antonio di Padova

  The church of Sant'Antonio da Padova is a modern parish church in Corsico, in the archdiocese of Milan. The parish was established in 1970 to serve the new Giorgella district, its territory being detached from that of Santi Pietro e Paolo. The church was designed by the architect Francesco Clerici, with structural calculations by the engineer Mario Corielli: the works began in 1975 and were completed in 1982.

  What to see

  The plan is a square thirty-three metres on each side, with the entrance and the altar placed at two opposite corners. The roof is a large hyperbolic paraboloid of reinforced concrete, resting on only two piers, at the side corners: in this way the hall is a single large free space, with no supports in the middle.

  To the left of the church rises the bell tower, with five circular openings corresponding to the five bells. Inside, on the altar, is a bronze crucifix designed by the sculptor Paolo Guiotto.

  Visiting

  Opening and Mass times should be checked with the parish.

  Our editors' tip

  Raise your eyes to the ceiling: a large dove is reproduced there, taken from a sketch by the painter Salvatore Fiume. And know that the structure interested engineers too: in 1988 a journal of the cement industry devoted a long article to the church.

Some links may earn BigItalia a commission, at no extra cost to you.