Lodi (Lombardy): what to see


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What to see in Lodi, one-day itinerary including the main monuments and places of interest, including Piazza della Vittoria, Cathedral and Civic Temple of the Crowned.


Tourist information

City of Lombardy and provincial capital, Lodi is part of the circuit of the art cities of the Po Valley.

On the top of Colle Eghezzone, August 3 1158 AD was founded by the will of Frederick I of Swabia called Barbarossa, the new city of Lodi, which arose after the destruction caused by the Milanese militias, of the ancient Roman town of Laus Pompeia, the current old Lodi, located about 7 kilometers distance.


The centerpiece of the city is Piazza della Vittoria, until 1924 called Piazza Maggiore, a very suggestive square, characterized by a pavement made of river pebbles and arcaded sides, which constitutes the crossroads of all the streets of the historic center.

Elegant palaces overlook this square, including Palazzo Vistarini, which on the side facing Corso Vittorio Emanuele becomes Palazzo Barni, and Palazzo Broletto, characterized by a loggia in neoclassical style, where the Town Hall is located.

In addition to these buildings stands out the beautiful Cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin, a vast Romanesque building, whose construction, which began in 1160 and completed in the sixteenth century, was renovated in the sixties of the twentieth century.


In the facade of the Cathedral there is a 12th century portal with a prothyrum, there is also a large rose window, two Renaissance windows and a newsstand where a bronze copy of the statue of San Bassiano is placed, while the original, made of copper gilded and dating back to 1284, it is placed inside the Cathedral.

The interior of the Cathedral has three naves, supported by imposing cylindrical brick pillars, while the presbytery area is raised on the crypt, which corresponds to the oldest part of the entire building.

At the entrance to the crypt there is a 12th-century bas-relief depicting the Last Supper, while in the center is the silver display case where the remains of San Bassiano, patron of Lodi, are kept.


Going up a staircase at the end of the right side aisle of the Cathedral, you enter the Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art, located in a wing of the historic Bishop's Palace, of medieval origin and rebuilt in the eighteenth century, based on a project by the architect Veneroni.

What see

Near the Cathedral stands the Civic Temple of the Blessed Virgin Crowned, also known as the Santuario dell'Incoronata, dating back to 1488, one of the masterpieces of the Lombard Renaissance, built by civic initiative following some miracles attributed to an image of the Madonna, frescoed on the facade of a house of tolerance, which was located on the site where the Temple of the Crowned stands today.

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The project for the construction of the Temple, with its octagonal plan, was entrusted to Giovanni Battaggio, a pupil of Bramante, from Lodigiano, but the works were completed, following the original design, by the engineers Giangiacomo Dolcebuono and Lazzaro Palazzi, since after about a year since the foundation stone was laid, on May 29, 1488, Battaggio broke the contract.

The interior of the temple is a triumph of frescoes, panels, canvases, made by the best artists who worked in Lodi between the fifteenth and early nineteenth centuries, including the Della Chiesa brothers, the Bergognone and the students of the Lodi workshop. Piazza family.

In the seventeenth century the choir was built behind the main altar, with a new apse and altar, designed by the architect Carlo Fontana.

The choir was frescoed by Stefano Maria Legnani, called il Legnanino, and by Andrea Lanzani.

In the basement of the sacristy there is the Museum of the Crowned, which preserves sacred furnishings and silverware of considerable value.

The thirteenth-century Church of San Francesco is also worth a visit, characterized by a facade with two mullioned windows in the open air and significant frescoes inside.

The Church of San Lorenzo, built in Romanesque style, is the oldest in Lodi after the Cathedral.

LOMBARDY, ITALY: Must visit places and things to do in Lombardy (February 2024)


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