Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio

The Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio stands among Milan's oldest churches, second in importance only to the Duomo. Bishop Ambrose raised the first building between 379 and 386, when Milan, then Mediolanum, served as capital of the Western Roman Empire. He dedicated the church to the Christian martyrs buried in the nearby cemetery. The plan still follows the early Christian model of three apsidal naves with a courtyard at the front.

A near-total reconstruction under Bishop Anselmo III da Rho in the eleventh century reshaped the church in the Romanesque style. Inside, the richly decorated portal leads you to the altar of Sant'Ambrogio, which Vuolvino crafted between 824 and 859. It ranks among the masterpieces of Carolingian goldsmithing, with a golden frontal and embedded stones. Four red porphyry columns carry the Ottonian ciborium, with stucco reliefs on its sides. In the apse, an eleventh-century mosaic enthrones Christ the Redeemer between the martyrs Protasio and Gervasio and the archangels Michael and Gabriel. Scenes from the saint's own life accompany the mosaic.

Early medieval kings of Italy received their crowns here, and the Peace of Sant'Ambrogio ended Milan's internal conflicts in 1328. Bombs damaged the basilica in 1943, and later restorations preserved its historical and artistic fabric. The wider complex gathers a monastery, the canonica, and the church of San Sigismondo. The oldest corner of the complex is the sacello of San Vittore in Ciel d'Oro. The fifth-century chapel keeps a golden vault over mosaics of six saints, among them the earliest known image of Ambrose himself.