Santa Maria Incoronata, Milan


Santa Maria Incoronata is a church in Milan, Italy. It was completed in 1460.
Artworks in the interior include a painting by Bergognone, Christ under the Grill, the tomb of Giovanni Bossi, attributed to Bambaia, a Baroque fresco cycle of the Life of St. Nicholas of Tolentino by Ciro Ferrari, and the Biblioteca Umanistica. The latter has three naves divided by granite columns, with frescoes of the Magisteri Sacrae Pagines commissioned by the Augustinians when they acquired the building. Of the original gardens and cloisters, only one of the latter has survived.

History

The church is formed by two paired buildings. The oldest one existed as early as the communal age and was dedicated to St. Maria di Gargnano. Starting from 1400, a new convent was built annexed to it for the Augustinians, who had the structure restored in late Gothic style. The new church was completed in the same age of the election of Francesco Sforza as duke of Milan 1451, and received the current name in the occasion. In 1460 the duke's wife, Bianca Maria Visconti, commissione the construction of a new church next to the oldest one, identical and connected to it, in order to create a single, larger edifice.
The church was modified in 1654 and 1827, but was restored to the medieval appearance in the early 19th century.