Sant'Erasmo, Church and art museum in Castel Goffredo, Italy
Sant'Erasmo is a Renaissance church on the east side of Piazza Mazzini in Castel Goffredo. Its two-tiered facade with pilasters, a pediment and three white marble portals faces the square. The interior is a Latin cross with three cross-vaulted naves on Botticino marble columns, seven chapels, and a semi-spherical dome wrapped by a tiburio.
A church dedicated to Saint Erasmus stood in Castelvecchio before 1288 and was demolished in 1516 for Aloisio Gonzaga's garden. The present building was begun in the second half of the 15th century outside the old walls, enlarged in 1516 with a presbytery and dome, and rebuilt by Bernardino Facciotto after the dome collapsed between 1588 and 1590.
The church keeps the so-called Treasure of Sant'Erasmo in the restored Old Sacristy, a collection of precious reliquaries. The Baptistery chapel's 16th-century frescoes were entered in the FAI's "Luoghi del Cuore" register. The main religious services of Castel Goffredo are held here.
The church occupies the east side of Piazza Mazzini, set asymmetrically to the square's axis, so the facade is best seen from the opposite side of the square. The main entrance is on this facade, framed by three white marble portals. The building is an active parish church, so visits should be fitted around religious services.
The Costanzo Antegnati organ of 1595, to the left of the main altar, was commissioned by Caterina Gonzaga, daughter of Marquis Alfonso Gonzaga. It is one of the church's oldest furnishings and predates the 1737–1750 marble floor and carved wooden pulpit.
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