San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore
San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore stands at the junction of Via Luini and Corso Magenta in Milan, with a Renaissance façade clad in grey Ornavasso stone. Inside, a vaulted single nave opens onto a remarkable cycle of frescoes from Leonardo da Vinci’s school, including works by Bernardino Luini.
Construction of the present church began in 1503, with Gian Giacomo Dolcebuono and Giovanni Antonio Amadeo associated with its design. The building formed part of Milan’s major Benedictine convent, whose nuns occupied a larger private section behind a dividing wall and watched services through a grille above the altar. Carolingian foundations and Roman remains still belong to the complex, including a polygonal tower from Maximian’s walls and a square tower from the ancient circus.
The convent continued until the Cisalpine Republic suppressed it in 1798, after which the site served as military barracks and a school. Restoration work later focused on preserving the frescoes, while wheelchair access makes the church easier to visit.
- City
- Milan
- Content updated
Take this page with you
The myTuur app is free, and once you are standing at a spot its story starts by itself.
Spots like this one are the stops myTuur strings into tours through Milan. In the app, each story begins where you stand: walk up to a spot and it starts, read it on screen or listen as you go, then follow the route to the next one.
What is myTuur?
myTuur is a free city-guide app. Its tours are built from spots, and each spot carries a story that starts when you get there, to read or to listen to as you like.