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Cogliate (Milan, Italy): Church of St. Damian
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 The Church of San Damiano, in Cogliate at the borders with Ceriano Laghetto, two small towns of Milan hinterland fifteen minutes drive north west of Milan, is another real treasure of art and story, absolutely little-known especially by tourists.
Externally the church is simple and unadorned. The interiors, however, are characterized by the presence of the splendid frescoes painted at the turn of 1400 and 1500.
The building, in late Romanesque style is rectangular with a single nave. For the walls poor materials were used, in particular also river pebbles and mortar (clearly visible on the facade).
The church was probably built in the late fourteenth century on the ruins of a previous shrine dedicated to Saints Cosmas and Damian.
The population of Cogliate indebted itself by commissioning the interior decoration to the artists who frequented the workshops of the masters occasionally present in the Saronno and Seveso area. Although it is well known how old these little masterpieces are, including a fresco depicting San Rocco dated 1494, their attribution is uncertain; if the shop of Bernardino Luini is an hypothesis, certainly the performer, or rather the executors, had in mind the lessons of the great Lombard Renaissance masters. The works are realized in a way so to highlight the architectural details, such the dramatic Crucifixion in the apse, where the dark blue backdrop enhances the radiance of the wood of the crosses and brings the animated groups on the ground in the foreground.
It followed in the mid-sixteenth century the decoration of the left side chapel, with a cycle of frescoes on the life of Our Lady of infant expressive tenderness.
The chapel on the right, of the Holy Family, is instead baroque.
Categories: Places of historical value of artistic value
Piazza San Damiano, Cogliate (MB) |
Further pictures of Church of St. Damian in the section Photography |