Tourist Attraction in Monza:
Chiesa di San Gerardo al Corpo

The church of San Gerardo al Corpo, dedicated to St. Gerardo dei Tintori, is the city of Monza. The present church rises to the place where there was once an ancient (956) extra-walled church dedicated to Saint Ambrose and subsequently reintilled to San Gerardo dei Tintori. The Church is also called "San Gerardo al corpo" because it is said that San Gerardo was buried right in that church and that some relics were kept including his mantle. In 1835 it was decided to build a new building on the design of the architect Giacomo Moraglia. The new church was erected, with its monumental dome, in the homonymous piazzetta on a stilobate with a Latin cross plan. The first stone of the church was placed on October 30, 1836, in the presence of Archduke Ranieri, viceroy of the Lombard-Veneto Kingdom. The church, with its imposing dome was completed in August 1842, in 1863 the pronaos was added and in 1875 the bell tower. The consecration took place in 1886. The façade was still modified with the addition of bas-reliefs inspired by San Gerardo, by Benedetto Cacciatori and by some of Giuseppe Colombo's statues. The facade assumed its definitive form in 1901. The new church maintains, at the bottom of its right transept, the upper abside and altar of the previous temple (which was oriented transversely to the present): in the apse it is Still preserved the body of the saint, patron of the city of Monza together with St. John the Baptist. From this fact the church also takes the name of "San Gerardo al corpo".

Attractions in Monza