architecture

The Sanctuary of Rho is one of the greatest basilicas in Lombardy.

The architectural structure was previously defined in the native project by the architect of St. Charles, Pellegrino Tibaldi, who thought to a grandiose Latin cross basilica, with a vast nave, fit to contain enormous flows of pilgrims.

The nave has a length of 74 meters, the wing of the major transept is 43 meters long, the dome reaches the height of 54 meters, while the bell tower is 75 meters tall. Eight side chapels border the major nave, four at every side.

Pellegrino’s plan was substantially respected during the complex construction yard of the church, started in 1584 and continued during the beginning of 17th Century with participation of Martino Bassi, Dionigi Campazzo, Aurelio Trezzi and maybe Fabio Mangone. The biggest renouncement from the native project coincides with the unrealization of the vast square porch that had to precede the facade, abandoned because of the construction of the college that stands in the square of the Sanctuary.

Remarkable for its size and its architecture is the bright dome, built between 1752 and 1764 on a project by Carlo Giuseppe Merlo with complex static evaluations, characterized from matched Corinthian columns and eight wide windows. Certainly one of the most demanding yards of the Milanese architecture in the 18th Century.

Equally considerable the facade, designed by Leopold Pollack, inspired by 16th Century schemes, and selected among the other projects of Carlo Benedetto Merlo and Luigi Cagnola, decorated by the beautiful neoclassic bas-reliefs by Grazioso Rusca.

In the center  of the square the St. Carlo Borromeo’s bronze monument, sculpted in 1883-1884 by Francesco Barzaghi and smelt by Barigozzi Foundry.