Chiesa di Santa Maria
Renaissance church famed for a painted choir barely a metre deep that fools the eye into a soaring hall.
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About this audio guide
This Milan church guide opens with a gambler named Massatio da Vigonzone, who in 1242 drove a dagger into a painted image of the Madonna beside a cemetery wall, and witnesses who swore the wound bled. Word of the miracle drew pilgrims by the thousand, and Milan's rulers, Duke Gian Galeazzo Sforza and his mother Bona di Savoia, brought in a young architect named Donato Bramante to rebuild the tiny chapel grand enough for the crowds. He arrived to find a problem no ambition could solve: a public road sat directly behind the site, leaving him barely a metre of depth for the choir a church like this demanded. Stand near the entrance and take in the nave before walking toward the altar.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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