Santa Maria degli Angeli e San Francesco Church, Gothic Revival church in Piazzale Velasquez, Milan, Italy.
Santa Maria degli Angeli e San Francesco Church is a Lombard Neo-Gothic building constructed between 1897 and 1899 to a design by Cesare Nava. Its tripartite facade in exposed brick with plastered inserts is preceded by a three-arch portico; a large central rose window and two smaller rose windows above biforas punctuate the front. The interior has a single nave ending in a flat apse, a wooden roof supported by pointed arches, and nine side chapels with cross vaults.
Capuchin friars were documented in Milan since the 16th century, when Giovanni da Fano settled at the chapel of San Giovanni alla Vepra with Francesco Sforza's permission. After Napoleonic suppressions forced the order out for 40 years, they obtained land in 1897 and built the church between 1897 and 1899 to Cesare Nava's design. It was consecrated in 1907 and dedicated to the Madonna degli Angeli, while the convent and theology school were already active in 1899.
The friars are known as those "della Maddalena" because of the nearby church dedicated to the saint. The convent housed a theology school already active in 1899, before the church was consecrated in 1907. The apse preserves Ponziano Loverini's painting Il santo Perdono, dated 1901.
The church stands on Piazzale Velasquez, with the convent buildings flanking it symmetrically on both sides. The entrance is through the three-arch portico on the tripartite brick facade, which faces the piazzale. The single nave and nine side chapels are on one level, with no steps between the entrance and the presbytery.
The apse preserves Ponziano Loverini's painting Il santo Perdono, dated 1901, four years after the friars obtained the land. The church was consecrated in 1907, while the adjoining convent and its theology school were already active in 1899. The friars are known as those "della Maddalena", from the nearby church of that saint.
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