Milan: San Maurizio

The Church of San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore is some kind of Milan’s own “Sistine Chapel”, with almost 4000 square meters of renovated frescoes in the Benedectine Monastery, painted by some of Milan’s and Lombardy’s most famous 16th-century artists, like Bernardino Luini.

Discover the history of the Abbess who led the Monastry and its wide religious community and what does Leonardo Da Vinci have to do with all that.

 

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Cover pic courtesy of Turismo Milano official website

 

Video full text: San Maurizio

San Maurizio! The totem tells me precisely where I am and what it is.
The QR code then provides an explanation in 9 languages.
I’ve read the Italian version and I note that renovation work only finished recently.
The main monastery, with its almost 4000 square meters of renovated frescoes,
is Milan’s own Sistine Chapel. Truly beautiful, totally frescoed.
This was a monastery of the Benedictine Nuns of Milan.
You can tell that because it is divided by a grille.
On this side were the faithful and those coming to visit the nuns,
meanwhile the nuns had to stay on the other side.
It was a cloistered monastery.
Construction of the church, which is now a gallery containing portraits of Milan’s 16th-century nobility, began in 1503.
It was painted by some of Milan’s and Lombardy’s most famous 16th-century artists.
First and foremost by Bernardino Luini and his studio,
one of Leonardo da Vinci’s most important pupils.
Here he is! There are always traces of Leonardo.
It was Milan’s largest convent for centuries,
because it possessed so many pieces of land that were given as a dowry along with the nuns.
It was the most important because the Abbess was a very powerful woman.
She was the only female to sit on the ecclesiastical council,
which decided how the Church of Milan’s assets and its bequests and legacies should be managed.
The Abbess wielded great power!
What we have here is an example, because there was enough money to pay all these artists.
We can see Alessandro Bentivoglio and Ippolita Sforza in the lunettes,
accompanied by their daughter, who was to become the Abbess.
Ippolita Sforza Bentivoglio was a noblewoman of Milan
who rubbed shoulders with the most important artists, which included Luini himself.
She is dressed exorbitantly, which shows that fashion existed then as well!
As it happens the fashion of those little bows is actually that launched by Leonardo.
The dress, kept together with so many bows, also has the puffed up sleeves.
Then there’s that frivolous hat. She was beautiful, rich and powerful.
You may have a mystical name Maria, but fortunately we don’t have to enter the convent!
But let’s go and look at the other side, that was only used by the nuns.
How lovely! These are the benches where the nuns sat.
These stalls are still used, for example, when there is a concert.
There are so many places, almost 100.
Just goes to show how large the religious community of San Maurizio actually was.
Then there is a magnificent organ,
Because the nuns would play music and sing.
This part in the partition was also frescoed by Bernardino Luini,
and his sons, who worked in his studio, frescoed the side chapels.
The other side shows the clients,
who had to appear before the faithful in all their splendour and riches.
The chapels depict some landscapes, very reminiscent of Leonardo’s,
that would help the nuns to meditate.
The lunettes, containing frescoes depicting scenes from the passion of Christ,
would help the nuns to pray.
They really couldn’t see over there from here.
When Charles Borromeo visited the convent
he decided to reduce the size of this grille, which was larger at the time, still further.
There’s a Last Supper painted by Luini’s sons,
which is greatly influenced by Leonardo’s own Last Supper.
Below is the door that the nuns used for climbing to the top of the tower.
The tower is the steeple that leans against the wall dating from Roman times,
as does the entire convent. So, here we are!
Milan, seen from the top. From here you can see the polygonal tower from the imperial age.
Here are all the ancient Roman columns that were reused to build the upper part of this tower.
This was the entrance to the ancient Roman medio lanum, the Roman circus that was located here.
It comes from the legend of the medio lanuta sow, found here by the Celtic King, Bellovesus.
He arrived here and decided to found medio lanum,
that is a reminder of the medio-lanuta or partially fleece-covered sow.
With that he made a coat, and so Milan’s world of fashion began,
with the fleece of the semi-lanuta sow!
In reality medio lanum means “being at the centre”,
of the plain, of the waters and of the world by importance!
That’s precisely how you Milanese are.
This was the hamlet that took its name from the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie.
Where the refectory houses the Last Supper.
Here we find a copy painted by a student, son of a student,
an admirer, in some way, of Leonardo da Vinci.
The real Last Supper is over there… can we see it?
Not just in a souvenir or on a post card, but the real thing!