Santa Maria Assunta, Ombriano: Parish Church of Crema
Site at a Glance
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- Country
- Italy
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Venetian
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page16 sections
History
Santa Maria Assunta is the Roman Catholic parish church of Ombriano, a suburb of Crema in Lombardy, Italy. Dedicated to the Assumption of Mary, it belongs to the Diocese of Crema, the Catholic diocesan institution responsible for ecclesiastical administration in the area. The present neoclassical church was built between 1788 and 1799, replacing an earlier building whose history reaches back to the twelfth century.
Medieval Benedictine administration
The earliest known reference to Santa Maria Assunta comes from a dispute in 1155 between Ugo, bishop of Piacenza, and Giovanni Bonomelli, prior of the monastery of San Benedetto. The disagreement concerned rights over the church. San Benedetto had been given to Montecassino Abbey by Enrico II Ghisalbertini and his wife Belisia on 1 December 1097, and a religious community was already living there by 1101 under Prior Lanfranco.
During the early medieval period, the church came under Benedictine influence. The Benedictines were a Western Christian monastic order following the Rule of Saint Benedict. A papal bull issued by Pope Alexander III on 20 October 1178 confirmed Santa Maria’s dependence on San Benedetto and gave the monastery’s priors the right to appoint its parish priests. Bishop Grimerio of Piacenza confirmed those rights again in 1204.
Santa Maria may also have received property connected with the nearby monastery of San Pietro. That foundation had been established by Ghiselberto IV Ghisalbertini, but later declined and was abandoned. The possible transfer of some of its property to the Montecassino foundation remains uncertain.
Expansion of the early parish church
In 1519, Lateran regular canons replaced the Benedictines at San Benedetto while retaining administrative rights over the church at Ombriano. Lateran regular canons were clerics who lived in community according to a canonical rule and followed the Lateran tradition.
The parish grew after the scattered settlement of Sabbioni was transferred from the parish of Santissima Trinità to Ombriano in 1567. The older church was enlarged to serve the expanded community. In 1579 it contained five altars dedicated to the high altar, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Roch, the Holy Cross, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. A baptistery was added by 1583, when the altar of Saint Roch had been replaced by one dedicated to the Holy Rosary. The bishop also ordered the creation of a sacristy room in the adjoining parish house.
Monsignor Gian Giacomo Diedo consecrated the enlarged church on 20 September 1598. Its religious life included several confraternities, or lay devotional associations. The confraternity of the Holy Rosary was established in 1604, that of the Blessed Sacrament in 1608, and the confraternity of the Dead in 1710.
Changes in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
Around 1647, two side altars were removed. The altar of the Holy Rosary remained alongside that of Saint Roch, while the organ was moved from the choir wall to the first chapel on the left. The baptistery formerly occupying that chapel was transferred to a niche.
Eighteenth-century descriptions portray a modest brick-built church with a brick ceiling, long windows along the sides, and a bell tower carrying two bells. Its foundations indicate a building approximately 10 metres wide and 20 metres long. In 1769, the Venetian Republic suppressed religious establishments with fewer than twelve religious. The last prior left San Benedetto in 1771, after which Santa Maria came under episcopal jurisdiction. The right to appoint its parish priests first passed to the Giavarina family, which had purchased former abbey property, and later to Francesco Sangiovanni.
Construction of the present church
Population growth and the limited size of the sixteenth-century church led the wardens of the religious congregations to seek a new building. Bishop Antonio Maria Gardini approved the project in 1786. Construction began in 1788 and the church was completed in 1799, despite difficulties in raising money and the passage of French troops through the village after their defeat at the Battle of Lodi. The troops stripped houses in the village, including the church and parish house.
Parish priest Giovanni Angelo Cerioli played a major part in bringing the project to completion. After the Cisalpine Republic suppressed religious houses, he obtained altarpieces and altars from churches that had been closed, especially San Francesco. The Cisalpine Republic was a short-lived state in northern Italy created during the Napoleonic period. These transfers gave the new church furnishings from older religious foundations.
The present church was consecrated by Bishop Pietro Maria Ferrè on 1 October 1865. Bishop Tommaso Ronna authorized the rebuilding of the high altar in 1819, and work on the altar of the Madonna began in 1820. The interior decoration was commissioned from Angelo Bacchetta in 1890. In 1895, records show a change in the dedication of one altar between Saint Agnes and Saint Francis of Paola.
The building continued to be altered and maintained in the modern period. Its roof was completely renewed in 1951, the bell tower underwent major restoration in 1981, and further substantial restoration took place between 2012 and 2014. Sabbioni gradually became separate from Ombriano. In 1948, Monsignor Francesco Maria Franco obtained approval to raise its church to the status of a curacy, a church community below the rank of an independent parish. Sabbioni became an independent parish on 30 October 1960 and was entrusted to Capuchin friars, a branch of the Franciscan order whose members had been present there since 1574.
Remains
Exterior and bell tower
Santa Maria Assunta stands as a free-standing brick church beside the parish house. A square to the north occupies the site of the former cemetery. The building measures approximately 42 metres in length, slightly more than 12 metres in width, and about 18 metres in height. Its walls are made entirely of exposed brick, with visible holes left by the scaffolding used during construction.
The neoclassical facade is arranged in two orders. The wider lower order has a central section framed by paired pilasters, which support a moulded cornice with curved roof tiles. The outer sections are set farther back. The plain entrance portal is bordered by alternating rows of terracotta elements, probably intended for a decorative scheme that was never completed.
The narrower upper order is divided into three panels. Niches occupy the side panels, while the central panel contains a large round-arched window. A triangular pediment crowns the facade and includes a small polygonal window. The side elevations are likewise arranged in two orders. Their lower sections are divided into panels corresponding to the interior bays, while the upper sections contain broad windows with segmental arches. On the south side, the old sacristy, now used as a confessional room, and the new sacristy partly conceal the exterior wall.
Bell tower
The bell tower is incorporated into the left side of the church. Its lower brick section is square, measuring approximately 5 metres on each side, and is divided into panels with rectangular openings and windows of different sizes. The upper section is slightly narrower, measuring about 4 metres on each side, and is plastered. Its lower zone has a base with corner pilasters and clock faces on the north and south sides.
Above the clock zone is the bell chamber, whose corner pilasters frame round-headed openings with emphasized wedge-shaped voussoirs. A balustrade with four pinnacles surrounds the onion-shaped roof. A statue of the Assumption of Mary rises above it, bringing the tower’s total height to about 43 metres when the statue is excluded from the measurement.
Most of the bells were cast in 1930 by the D’Adda Francesco and Sons foundry. Two were restored in 1949 after requisitions carried out under the Italian government’s decree of 23 April 1942. Another bell was replaced in 1976 because it had cracked.
Nave, vaults, and devotional furnishings
The interior has a single nave divided into five unequal bays, or spatial sections between successive supports. Two larger bays contain shallow chapels and alternate with three smaller bays that project slightly. Paired pilasters with Corinthian capitals rise between the bays. Beyond the nave are a rectangular presbytery, the area around the main altar reserved for the clergy, and a deep choir inside a semicircular apse.
The vault is barrel-shaped over the narrower bays and alternates with cross-vaults over the longer ones. The cross-vaults spring from large lunettes, the curved wall or vault areas containing the segmental-arched windows. Angelo Bacchetta decorated the dome with a fresco of the Assumption of Mary and painted the Evangelists in the pendentives, curved triangular surfaces supporting the dome above the central space. He also decorated the vault with subjects referring to ecclesiastical authority and with Christological and Eucharistic symbols.
Five stained-glass windows made by Bontempi in 1965 depict the Creation of Man, the Sacrifice of Isaac, the Expulsion from Paradise, the Tablets of the Law, and the Nativity. The central window represents the Assumption of Mary. Six oil paintings on canvas by Gian Giacomo Barbelli occupy the narrower bays. Their subjects are the Marriage of the Virgin, Joseph’s Dream, the Visitation, the Flight into Egypt, the Rest during the Flight into Egypt, and Jesus among the Doctors in the Temple. The last painting is signed and dated 1639.
Entrance and baptistery
The entrance vestibule is made of walnut and dates from the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. Two eighteenth-century confessionals flank it. Four Stations of the Cross hang above the confessionals, while the remaining stations are distributed through the nave. Fra Luigi Cerioli made the series, which was commissioned in 1799 by the sisters Lucia and Faustina Voltolini.
The first interior space contains the baptistery behind a metal grille. Its font is covered by an octagonal canopy carrying a small statue of Saint John the Baptist. A painting of the Baptism of Jesus by Luciano Perolini hangs on the wall. Above the confessionals are two early seventeenth-century paintings by Tomaso Pombioli, the Adoration of the Magi and the Adoration of the Shepherds. Both include the coat of arms of the Sangiovanni Toffetti family.
Left-hand chapels
The chapel of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was formerly dedicated to Saint Francis of Paola and later to Saint Agnes. Its altar came from the suppressed church of San Francesco. Columns of red Verona marble support the altar elevation and its broken circular pediment, which contains a small canvas of Saint Francis of Paola by Fra Luigi Cerioli. A wooden statue of the Sacred Heart occupies the central niche.
The chapel also contains an eighteenth-century wooden altar shaped like a tabernacle, with an image of Saint Jude Thaddeus. A wooden statue of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus dates from the first half of the twentieth century. An oil painting of Saint Francis of Paola by Fra Luigi Cerioli dates from the second half of the eighteenth century.
The second chapel on the left is dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist. Its simple nineteenth-century altar supports a marble eighteenth-century statue of the Madonna and Child above the candle-holder steps. The altarpiece, the Martyrdom of Saint John the Evangelist, is by an anonymous artist and has been attributed at different times to Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli, known as Morazzone, Jacopo Negretti, known as Palma the Younger, and Carletto Caliari. A wooden statue of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, from the first half of the twentieth century, stands in a niche on the right wall.
The third bay contains a wooden vestibule leading to one of the side entrances. In the fifth bay, the triumphal arch has niches at its springing points with wooden statues of Saint Fermo, from the first half of the twentieth century, and Saint Roch, from the second half of the nineteenth century.
Presbytery and right-hand chapels
High altar and choir
Two rows of red and black Verona-marble balustrades separate the presbytery from the nave. They predate the present church and carry two inscriptions, the second dated 1652. Read together, the inscriptions form a complete sentence.
The present high altar was installed by parish priest Regazzoni in 1819, replacing an altar that Cerioli had purchased in the Canton of Ticino in 1794. Made of polychrome marble with gilded stucco, it has a temple-shaped tabernacle with a dome. Statuettes of Faith and Hope and a central statue of the risen Christ blessing surmount the structure. Beneath it is a Carrara-marble group of the Madonna and Child with the young Saint John the Baptist, attributed to the second half of the seventeenth century.
The apse contains a semicircular wooden choir with 23 stalls arranged in two levels and made during the nineteenth century. Above it hangs a series of paintings of saints and apostles by Luciano Perolini. On the sides of the apse are two paintings by Giovan Battista Lucini, the Rest during the Flight into Egypt and Jesus Calming the Dragons, both dating approximately from 1676 to 1678 and already present in the earlier church. The central painting is Vittoriano Urbino’s signed Madonna and Child with Saints Gottardo and Catherine, from the late sixteenth century.
Chapel of Saints Roch and Anthony
The chapel dedicated to Saints Roch and Anthony of Padua contains an altar acquired when the church of San Francesco was suppressed. Paired pillars with Corinthian capitals support its broken arched pediment. The elevation includes a painting of Saint Roch by Fra Luigi Cerioli, dating approximately from 1775 to 1799.
The altarpiece is Pietro Damini’s Miracle of Saint Anthony of Padua, an oil painting from the early seventeenth century. Niches contain a polychrome statue of Saint Anne with the Virgin Mary, donated by Giovanni Manclossi in 1927, and a statue of Saint Agnes from the second half of the nineteenth century.
Madonna chapels and sacristy
The second room beyond the chapel contains the altar of the Madonna of the Rosary, installed in 1820. Its inlaid and carved altar is made of polychrome marble, while its elevation has pilasters with Corinthian capitals and a moulded pediment. A twentieth-century wooden statue of the Madonna occupies the elevation.
The second chapel on the right is dedicated to the Madonna and has an altar installed in 1813. Paired superimposed pilasters support its triangular pediment. The altarpiece is Giambettino Cignaroli’s Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, transferred from the church of the Disciplines near Porta Ripalta. A niche contains a statue of Saint Joseph. The fifth short bay on the right opens into the sacristy, whose decoration by Angelo Bacchetta uses themes of ecclesiastical authority together with Christological and Eucharistic symbols.
Organ and transferred artworks
The organ on the right wall is a mechanically actioned instrument made by Inzoli in 1997. In this type of organ, physical linkages connect the keys and pedals to the pipes rather than an electrical system. The instrument replaced an earlier Inzoli organ from 1922; a Serassi organ was in use during the eighteenth century. The choir loft and counter-loft, an elevated gallery corresponding to the main organ loft, were made by carpenter Santo Franceschini in 1890.
The 1997 organ has two 58-note keyboards extending from C1 to A5, with boxwood diatonic keys and ebony chromatic keys. Its straight pedal board has 30 pedals extending from C1 to F3, with oak diatonic pedals and ebony-covered chromatic pedals.
Below the organ loft is a Madonna and Child probably by Alberto Piazza. Beneath the counter-loft is a small oil painting on panel of the Madonna and Child with an angel by an unknown artist. Cesare Alpini described it as the “Pseudo-Francesco Fiorentino.” It may be a sixteenth-century work or a nineteenth-century imitation of Renaissance style.
The church retains paintings and altars transferred from other buildings or acquired during religious suppressions. Alongside works by Barbelli, Lucini, Pombioli, Cignaroli, Urbino, Damini, Cerioli, and possibly Piazza, these furnishings present subjects from the life of Mary, the saints, the Passion, the Adoration of the Magi, the Adoration of the Shepherds, and the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. Several works associated with Santa Maria are no longer traced, including paintings by Barbelli, Martino Cignaroli, Giovan Battista Lucini, Giovanni Angelo Ferrario, and other artists. A painting of Blessed John Duns Scotus was recorded in 1942.
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