It is the oldest outer church of the Cremonese Diocese. The interior is presented in glorious and solemn forms, with showy polychromy... #tuttitaly
Founded by the Goths in the 5th century, the Pieve di Santa Maria Assunta is indicated as the oldest church in the diocese of Cremona. At the beginning of the 7th century, after the Lombard conquest of the city of Cremona, Bishop Anselmo retired to the parish church of Soncino. The forced exile of the bishop made the parish a bishopric. It was then elevated to the rank of collegiate in the year 828.
In 1580, the church was remodeled with an extension of the choir to the east and the construction of the side chapels to the south.
The renovation works aimed to adapt it to the provisions approved by the Council of Trent. The church was decorated by the Cremonese mannerists Giulio Calvi, who frescoed the central nave, and Uriele Gatti, who took care of the counter-façade.
In 1802 it suffered severe damage due to an earthquake. At the end of the nineteenth century, the architect Carlo Maciachini gave the church its current appearance by building the imposing octagonal dome.
On that occasion, the copper statue made by Carlo Riva was placed on the spire of the bell tower. The northern wall was rectified, and the facade was brought back to a medieval aspect with the reopening and reconstruction of the rose window and the porch on column-bearing lions.
The interior is presented in genuinely grandiose and solemn forms. The showy polychromy was created in 1897 with a neo-Byzantine style address.
Along the nave, whose vaults are painted with a starry blue sky, there are a series of saints, including Omobono and Carlo Borromeo (saints of the Cremonese and Lombard churches) and Martino and Paolo (patron saints of Soncino).
Among the paintings in the church, of great value, is the canvas by the Flemish painter Matthias Stom, which depicts a non-ecclesiastical subject: the liberation of the chains of Flavius Joseph by the Roman emperor Vespasian.
In the neoclassical altar is a late 16th-century canvas depicting the "Trinity with Angels and Saints" by Uriele Gatti.
As the pastor we met during our visit said, this is a genuinely great church which, although it gave us the impression of being in the most beautiful parish church ever seen before, apparently it is just one of the most beautiful works by Soncino. , which deserves the time dedicated to his knowledge.
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