Chiesa di San Pietro in Gessate

Milan keeps Renaissance treasures far beyond the Duomo, and the Chiesa di San Pietro in Gessate is one of them. Built around 1460, it stands among the finest works of fifteenth-century Lombard Renaissance. The design goes to Guiniforte Solari, who also worked on the Ospedale Maggiore and Santa Maria delle Grazie.

When you step inside, the plan follows the classic basilica form across three naves. Pointed arches rest on Corinthian granite columns, a scheme that nods to Florentine Humanism and to Filippo Brunelleschi. The gabled facade answers with terracotta decorations typical of the style. Diego Brioschi renewed those exterior surfaces during the 1912 restoration. The Obiano Chapel adds frescoes by Donato Montorfano, drawn from the life of Saint Anthony. The building carries the scars of the Second World War, when bombing tore through its structure. Restoration work since has preserved the historic fabric and the art within it. Wheelchair users can move through the church as well.

The Grifi Chapel repays the longest look of all, for it holds the Storie di Sant'Ambrogio. Bernardino Butinone and Bernardo Zenale set out the life of Saint Ambrose there with a realism that has outlasted the centuries.