San Vittore, Collegiate parish church in Corbetta, Italy

San Vittore is the collegiate parish church of Corbetta, in the metropolitan city and archdiocese of Milan. Its neoclassical exterior, designed by Luigi Cerasoli between 1845 and 1848, has a columned portico sheltering the three entrances, topped by a pediment with a mosaic of Saint Victor added in the 1950s. The facade is partly clad in Montorfano granite slabs alternating with false ashlar plasterwork. Inside, Pietro Taglioretti's basilical plan divides the space into three naves with sixteen columns and four pilasters, under a barrel vault decorated with stucco rosettes.

A church existed here by the 3rd century, according to legend founded by Saint Mona over a pagan altar; it took Romanesque form in 1037 with a crypt dedicated to Saint Materno. The roof collapsed in 1535, and after Carlo Borromeo's 1570 visit restorations ran from 1588 to 1592. Pietro Taglioretti's enlargement plan of 1750 was built from 1806 to 1809, and Luigi Cerasoli added the facade in 1845-1848.

The church is dedicated to Saint Victor, a Roman soldier martyred with Saints Nabore and Felice, whose chiaroscuro images by Rodolfo Gambini flank the walls. In October 1891 the canonica was consecrated by Paolo Angelo Ballerini, Patriarch of Alexandria in Egypt. The presbytery frescoes by Romeo Rivetta depict the Decollation of Saint Victor and the Discovery of his body by Saint Materno.

The church stands in Corbetta, in the metropolitan city of Milan, and belongs to the Magenta deanery. The facade faces the square where Carlo Borromeo administered confirmation in 1570. The bell tower, rebuilt in 1908, rises 71 metres. Look for the 1950s mosaic of Saint Victor above the pronaos.

The high altar was designed by Leopoldo Pollack for Milan's Church of the Santo Sepolcro, which rejected it; the Corbetta collegiate church bought it in 1809. It is a backdrop-type altar in three orders on a green marble base, inlaid with Broccatello rosso di Verona, Breccia apuana, verde delle Alpi and botticino marbles, with two gilded praying angels and, above the tabernacle, a small eight-column temple topped by a statue of the risen Christ.