Cremona, Church of Saint Sigismondo

Construction of the church began in the 15th century at the request of Bianca Maria Visconti on the spot of the chapel where her marriage to Francesco Sforza was celebrated in 1441.
The original arrangement is attributed to Bartolomeo Gadio. The rectangular plan is found often in the Renaissance style, with the longitudinal body containing imposing buttresses. The simple façade divided in three, with its pilasters, is made slimmer by the five soaring pinnacles, a homage to Gothic-Lombard tradition. Inside, there is only one nave, covered with a barrelled vault with connecting side chapels, that ends in a frescoed apse. The interior appears to be the fruit of a second phase of work, inspired by Guglielmo and Bernardino de Lera, artists who lived between the 15th and 16th centuries. The church is rich in works from the late Renaissance of Cremona. Especially worthy of note are the mannerist paintings by Camillo Boccaccino, the son of the famous writer, Boccaccio. Emblematic of the new mannerist pictorial current is the “Eternal Glory” painted in the hollow of the apse. This painting opened the way for the painters of the second half of the 16th century, especially the Campi family. Giulio Campi gathered the influences of the various cultural climates in the large altarpiece behind the main altar. It is from 1540 and depicts the “Madonna with Child”, "Saints Daria, Sigismondo, Girolamo and Crisante with Francesco Sforza and Bianca Maria Visconti". The "Pentecost" in the first span of the vault is also by Campi. By Bernardino Campi we have the altarpiece with "Saints Cecilia and Catherine", which recalls Flemish painting with its refined taste for depicting reality. Also by him is the "Glory of Paradise" in the dome. With Antonio Campi, painting in Cremona acquired a new vitality consisting of naturalistic references and a knowledgeable luminosity. This artist painted the “Beheading of John the Baptist” in the fifth chapel on the left. The cloister is also attributed to the same painter. Bernardino Gatti, another 16th century painter in Cremona, painted the "Ascension" from 1549.