Madonna di Fatima in Vigentino Church, Catholic church in Vigentino district, Milan, Italy.
The church of the Madonna di Fatima has a reinforced-concrete structure on twelve pillars representing the apostles, with brick and stone walls and exposed terracotta surfaces. Its facade, preceded by a portico, is fully glazed, making the single nave very bright. On the facade's cusp stands a sculpture by Angelo Biancini showing the Madonna of Fatima flanked by two angels.
The first stone was laid on 1 April 1961 in the new Fatima district at the end of Via Ripamonti, and Cardinal Archbishop Montini consecrated the church on 7 October 1962. It was planned together with the neighbourhood and built before the residential blocks. The original project, including an oratory, cinema, gym, pool, school and retirement home, was cut back for economic reasons to the church and its service rooms.
The church is named after Our Lady of Fatima, the title given to the Virgin Mary after the 1917 apparitions to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal. The parish was planned together with the surrounding Fatima neighbourhood and built before its homes. The apse wall is covered by Augusto Ranocchi's mosaic centred on the Crucified Christ with the Madonna at his right.
The church lacks a traditional bell tower, instead using electric speakers on the roof for bell sounds, and visitors can access it via public transportation from central Milan.
The church was built before the surrounding Fatima housing, an unusual case of a parish planned together with the district's urbanisation and finished ahead of the homes. The original project was far larger, with an oratory, sports fields, a cinema-theatre hall, a gym, a pool, a school and a retirement home, cut back for economic reasons to the church and its service rooms.
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