What to see · Segrate

More places of interest

• Chiesa di Sant'Ambrogio

  The oratory of Sant'Ambrogio stands at Redecesio, a hamlet of Segrate, in the archdiocese of Milan. The building dates from the sixteenth century, but some research traces the presence of an oratory in this place as far back as 1258: it was run by the Humiliati, and later passed to the archiepiscopal seminary of Milan. St Charles Borromeo visited it in 1569 and in 1571, and ordered it to be enlarged because it was not big enough to hold the faithful. In 1867 the church was sold to a private individual, who also owned the nearby Cascina Pelegatta; in 2010 it was handed over to the town council of Segrate, which restored it, bringing it back to its original appearance.

  What to see

  The church is small. The gabled façade is closed by two pilaster strips; you climb five steps to the door, and above it is a semicircular lunette with the patron saint, with his headdress and crozier. The bell gable is not on the church, but on the Cascina Pelegatta, next to it.

  The interior has a single nave, with an apse that keeps seventeenth-century frescoes found during the restorations. The altarpiece, in a wooden frame, is by Enea Salmeggia of Bergamo: the Madonna and Child between Saints Ambrose, Charles Borromeo, Agnes and John the Baptist. In the church there is also a large devotional wooden crucifix.

  Visiting

  The oratory is owned by the town: opening days and times should be checked with the town council of Segrate.

  Our editors' tip

  The altarpiece has changed author several times. At first it was believed to be by Luini, then by Carlo Francesco Nuvolone; it was assigned to Salmeggia when the restoration made his signature visible. The date, on the other hand, has been lost: a fire that broke out on the altar licked the lower part of the canvas. Before the painting, moreover, there was an ivory icon on the altar, still seen in 1607.

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