The church of Santa Maria al Carrobiolo stands in Monza, at piazza Carrobiolo 8: built in the 16th century beside the adjoining convent of the Barnabites, still in existence, it keeps Mannerist works by Simone Peterzano and Moncalvo and a fine Baroque fresco decoration.
What to see
The name «Carrobiolo» comes from piccolo carrobbio, the little square where carts halted near the old city gates. The first church belonged to the Umiliati of Saints Agatha and Mary and dates back to 1232, when the archpriest of Monza authorised the construction of an oratory dedicated to God and the Virgin: it was the order's most important house in Monza. In 1571 the order was suppressed by Pope Pius V on the initiative of the archbishop of Milan, Carlo Borromeo, who thought the Umiliati's customs excessively lax, and the complex was assigned to the Barnabites, who in 1573 began renovating it while keeping the structures of the church, bell tower and cloister; Carlo Borromeo consecrated the church in 1584. The arrival of the Cisalpine Republic led to the suppression of the community; the marquis Carlo Arconati Visconti bought the complex back and returned it to the Barnabites in 1799 and, after the new Napoleonic decree of 1810, redeemed it again, and his heirs handed it back to the fathers almost seventy years later.
The 16th-century façade, inspired by San Barnaba in Milan, the Barnabites' mother church and a work by Galeazzo Alessi, has two superimposed orders, three pedimented portals and a Serlian window; in the Baroque period a statue of the Virgin and two angels were added at the apex of the pediment. The interior keeps the medieval three-nave layout with a flat apse; the barrel vault was decorated by Andrea Porta for the figures, between 1707 and 1709, and by the Grandi brothers for the architectural quadratura, in a harmonious example of Lombard barocchetto showing the glorification of the Virgin and of Saint Agatha. The Piedmontese Guglielmo Caccia, called Moncalvo, who around 1619 was working at Monza Cathedral, left here the Adoration of the Magi and the Adoration of the Shepherds; of Simone Peterzano, master of Caravaggio, survive among other works the Holy Family with the young Saint John and the Madonna of the Milk, while the Glory of All Saints is now kept in the convent. In the chapel of the Addolorata are a 16th-century Crucifix attributed to Battista da Saronno and a 17th-century polychrome wooden statue.
Visiting
The church is at piazza Carrobiolo 8, beside the Barnabite convent; opening hours and visits should be checked on the church's official website.
Our editors' tip
Pause in the little square before going in: the name Carrobiolo, from «piccolo carrobbio», recalls that here, near the old city gates, carts once halted.
