Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore is located in Lomello, in the province of Pavia, and is one of the most interesting architectural testimonies of the so-called Lombard Romanesque, deeply marked by the transalpine influence of Ottonian architecture. In Italy it is the church with the oldest cross vaults (those only on the side naves, a sign of a transition period). The basilica has three apsed naves with a transept lower than the longitudinal body. It was one of the first churches in Italy to be covered with cross vaults in the side naves, before the Romanesque style became widespread. The façade was originally joined to the ancient castle walls; after a failure or collapse, which some attribute to the earthquake of 1117, the first three bays were abandoned and a façade was built by closing one of the diaphragm arches. The particular originality lies in the large diaphragm arches that cross the nave, lightened by perforations from pairs of mullioned windows, each of which is equipped with a small column and a crutch capital. The alternation between pillars with a transverse arch and simple pillars would seem to prefigure the use of a vaulted roof, but in reality there is no lack of examples of diaphragm arches without a masonry roof being foreseen. The pillars that do not support the diaphragm arches are continued by pilaster strips up to the clerestory, while the longitudinal arches (those that separate the naves) rest on semi-columns that together with the thickness of the slightly projecting pilaster strip, form the pillar. Walls, pillars and capitals are all made of bricks. The minor naves, although rebuilt (always according to Porter, around 1300), were already present in the oldest phase. The decorative set is important, with numerous surviving fragments of figurative stucco decoration. Excavations carried out in 1944 led to the unearthing of a crypt, of the oratory type, with cross vaults. Apparently unfinished, the crypt can be dated around 1000 it would therefore date back to an earlier phase of the church. Among the few data that can refer with certainty to the phase of the basilica that still exists today, we can include the privilege of Pope Paschal II, dated 22 August 1107, with which the parish priest of Santa Maria is authorised to wear the mitre and the pastoral staff, and he is given the power to confer some minor orders. The church is part of a complex with a baptistery that was built between 1025 and 1040 according to Porter's theses. In the 18th century, the church was subjected to a renovation that involved both a change in the appearance of the front part and the replacement of the original coffered roof with a barrel vault.
The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore is located in Lomello, in the province of Pavia, and is one of the most interesting architectural testimonies of the so-called Lombard Romanesque, deeply marked by the transalpine influence of Ottonian architecture. In Italy it is the church with the oldest cross vaults (those only on the side naves, a sign of a transition period). The basilica has three apsed naves with a transept lower than the longitudinal body. It was one of the first churches in Italy to be covered with cross vaults in the side naves, before the Romanesque style became widespread. The façade was originally joined to the ancient castle walls; after a failure or collapse, which some attribute to the earthquake of 1117, the first three bays were abandoned and a façade was built by closing one of the diaphragm arches. The particular originality lies in the large diaphragm arches that cross the nave, lightened by perforations from pairs of mullioned windows, each of which is equipped with a small column and a crutch capital. The alternation between pillars with a transverse arch and simple pillars would seem to prefigure the use of a vaulted roof, but in reality there is no lack of examples of diaphragm arches without a masonry roof being foreseen. The pillars that do not support the diaphragm arches are continued by pilaster strips up to the clerestory, while the longitudinal arches (those that separate the naves) rest on semi-columns that together with the thickness of the slightly projecting pilaster strip, form the pillar. Walls, pillars and capitals are all made of bricks. The minor naves, although rebuilt (always according to Porter, around 1300), were already present in the oldest phase. The decorative set is important, with numerous surviving fragments of figurative stucco decoration. Excavations carried out in 1944 led to the unearthing of a crypt, of the oratory type, with cross vaults. Apparently unfinished, the crypt can be dated around 1000 it would therefore date back to an earlier phase of the church. Among the few data that can refer with certainty to the phase of the basilica that still exists today, we can include the privilege of Pope Paschal II, dated 22 August 1107, with which the parish priest of Santa Maria is authorised to wear the mitre and the pastoral staff, and he is given the power to confer some minor orders. The church is part of a complex with a baptistery that was built between 1025 and 1040 according to Porter's theses. In the 18th century, the church was subjected to a renovation that involved both a change in the appearance of the front part and the replacement of the original coffered roof with a barrel vault.
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The first municipality in the Veneto region by surface area and second by population after Verona, it includes both island and mainland territories and is structured around the two main centres of Venice (in the centre of the lagoon of the same name) and Mestre (on the mainland). It is part of the Eurocities network of the largest European cities. The city was the capital of the Serenissima Republic of Venice for 1,100 years and is known in this regard as the Serenissima, the Dominant and the Queen of the Adriatic: for its urban peculiarities and its artistic heritage, it is universally considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world, declared, together with its lagoon, a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, which has contributed to making it the second Italian city after Rome with the highest tourist flow. Between the 10th and 16th centuries it was one of the greatest naval and mercantile powers in the Mediterranean, with interests in particular towards the East. Together with Cannes and Berlin, it is considered one of the capitals of European cinema, thanks to the International Film Festival.")
