The basilica of San Giuseppe da Copertino stands in Osimo behind Piazza Boccolino, the main square of the centre, and keeps the body of the saint, patron of the town and protector of students. Originally there was here a small church of the Magdalene, served by the Franciscans. St Francis came to Osimo twice, and after his death the citizens decided to build a new church with a convent: it was consecrated on 7 May 1234 and dedicated to him. On 9 July 1657 Joseph of Cupertino arrived at the convent, where he spent his last years in complete isolation and died on 18 September 1663. After his beatification, in 1753, the friars had the building remade by the architect Andrea Vici, in Baroque forms. Joseph was proclaimed a saint in 1767, and the church, by now named after him, was consecrated on 27 May 1781; in 1796 Pope Pius VI raised it to a basilica.
What to see
The eighteenth-century façade was left unfinished, in a rough state; of the medieval church there remain part of the outer facing and above all the apse. The interior, a single nave with side chapels, has an eighteenth-century appearance. At the second altar on the left is the large Madonna Enthroned with Child and Saints by Antonio Solario, an oil on panel finished in 1505; at the first a Crucifixion by Francesco Solimena; in the right transept an altarpiece by Mattia Preti with the vision of St Anthony of Padua.
The dome, the apse and the inner façade were frescoed in the thirties of the twentieth century by the Neapolitan painter Gaetano Bocchetti. In the sacristy, which keeps its medieval lines almost entirely, the vault has fourteenth-century frescoes of the four Evangelists. The body of the saint is in the crypt, built in 1963, in an urn of bronze and crystal.
Visiting
You can also visit the saint's rooms, preserved in their original state: the three little rooms that housed him and the oratory where he celebrated Mass every day. They are open during the sanctuary's hours, which should be checked with the friars before going.
Our editors' tip
In Antonio Solario's altarpiece look for two things. The first is the young soldier kneeling on the right: some recognise in him the features of Boccolino da Guzzone, after whom the square is named. The second is the landscape in the background, where Monte Vettore and Osimo itself can be made out.
