Santa Maria Maddalena Church, Baroque church in central Lodi, Italy

Santa Maria Maddalena is a late Baroque church on Via Maddalena in central Lodi. Its single nave is built on an elliptical plan: a square central space under a shallow sail vault, preceded and followed by trapezoidal bays with cross vaults, then smaller barrel-vaulted spaces, ending in a rectangular presbytery with Simone Cantoni's altar and the apse. The curved neo-baroque facade with stucco ornament is Angelo Colla's 1888 reworking.

A church dedicated to Mary Magdalen burned in the town fire of 1162; documents record its slow reconstruction over the following centuries. The entire structure was rebuilt in the 18th century: the Rococo church was begun in 1719, its choir fully roofed in 1732, and the bell-tower added in 1751. Tradition places an ancient Roman temple to Hercules on the site, and remnants of the 12th-century church stand beside the present building.

The interior frescoes are by Carlo Innocenzo Carloni and his studio, and an altarpiece of the Crucifixion is by Robert De Longe, called il Fiammingo. Fourteen canvases of the Via Crucis were painted by Antonietta Bisi of Milan. The main altar holds a venerated medieval crucifix attributed to Giacomo Oldo Lodigiano.

The church stands on Via Maddalena in the centre of Lodi, a short walk from the Piazza della Vittoria. The organ built by Livio Tornaghi in 1853, kept in the last chapel on the left, is no longer working, so it cannot be heard. Look for the remains of the 12th-century church beside the present building.

The church preserves an organ built by Livio Tornaghi in 1853, still in its last chapel on the left. It keeps its original characteristics but is no longer playable. The five bells in the bell tower were cast by Giovanni Crespi of Crema in 1856.