Description
The Basilica of Sant'Andrea is the largest church in Mantua, in the heart of the old town: a Renaissance masterpiece designed by Leon Battista Alberti, with a façade like a Roman triumphal arch and a dome 80 metres high.
What stays with you when you walk in is the space: a single, immense nave covered by a coffered barrel vault, with no columns to block the view. It was designed this way to welcome the crowds of pilgrims who came to venerate the relic of the Blood of Christ.
The façade echoes ancient triumphal arches: a large central arch between tall Corinthian pilasters, one of the first examples of the giant order in the Renaissance. Higher up, set back, is a second arch, known as the "ombrellone" (big umbrella), which brings light into the nave.
The dome, 25 metres wide, is among the largest in Italy. It was added in the 18th century by Filippo Juvarra, inspired by that of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte in Rome.
Among the side chapels is the Mantegna Chapel, where the painter is buried. Two of his canvases remain, the Baptism of Christ, completed by his son Francesco, and the Holy Family, next to his bust.
Among the other chapels, the Chapel of St Stephen stands out, with three funerary monuments attributed to Giulio Romano: in the Strozzi mausoleum, four caryatids hold up a sarcophagus. The Chapel of St Longinus has an altarpiece by Giulio Romano himself.
Further down is the octagonal crypt from the late 16th century. At its centre, in the Sacred Vessels, is kept the earth soaked with the blood of Christ which, according to tradition, the Roman soldier Longinus brought to Mantua.
The relic was found, so the story goes, in 804, and again in the mid-11th century. Every Good Friday the Sacred Vessels leave the crypt and are carried in procession through the streets of the centre.
Ludovico II Gonzaga entrusted the project to Alberti in 1472, but the architect died that same year. The works, overseen by Luca Fancelli, stopped and started again several times: the church was only completed in the 18th century.
Of the medieval church, the Gothic bell tower survives, along with one side of the cloister. Some of the Gonzagas were also buried in the basilica, including Duke Vincenzo I.
Don't miss
• The triumphal-arch façade.
• The nave and Juvarra's dome.
• Mantegna Chapel.
• Crypt of the Sacred Vessels.
Did you know?
• Alberti aligned the church with the street that linked the Palazzo Ducale to the Te.
• In the 19th century the "ombrellone" above the façade was thought to be foreign to Alberti's design and nearly torn down.
What stays with you when you walk in is the space: a single, immense nave covered by a coffered barrel vault, with no columns to block the view. It was designed this way to welcome the crowds of pilgrims who came to venerate the relic of the Blood of Christ.
The façade echoes ancient triumphal arches: a large central arch between tall Corinthian pilasters, one of the first examples of the giant order in the Renaissance. Higher up, set back, is a second arch, known as the "ombrellone" (big umbrella), which brings light into the nave.
The dome, 25 metres wide, is among the largest in Italy. It was added in the 18th century by Filippo Juvarra, inspired by that of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte in Rome.
Among the side chapels is the Mantegna Chapel, where the painter is buried. Two of his canvases remain, the Baptism of Christ, completed by his son Francesco, and the Holy Family, next to his bust.
Among the other chapels, the Chapel of St Stephen stands out, with three funerary monuments attributed to Giulio Romano: in the Strozzi mausoleum, four caryatids hold up a sarcophagus. The Chapel of St Longinus has an altarpiece by Giulio Romano himself.
Further down is the octagonal crypt from the late 16th century. At its centre, in the Sacred Vessels, is kept the earth soaked with the blood of Christ which, according to tradition, the Roman soldier Longinus brought to Mantua.
The relic was found, so the story goes, in 804, and again in the mid-11th century. Every Good Friday the Sacred Vessels leave the crypt and are carried in procession through the streets of the centre.
Ludovico II Gonzaga entrusted the project to Alberti in 1472, but the architect died that same year. The works, overseen by Luca Fancelli, stopped and started again several times: the church was only completed in the 18th century.
Of the medieval church, the Gothic bell tower survives, along with one side of the cloister. Some of the Gonzagas were also buried in the basilica, including Duke Vincenzo I.
Don't miss
• The triumphal-arch façade.
• The nave and Juvarra's dome.
• Mantegna Chapel.
• Crypt of the Sacred Vessels.
Did you know?
• Alberti aligned the church with the street that linked the Palazzo Ducale to the Te.
• In the 19th century the "ombrellone" above the façade was thought to be foreign to Alberti's design and nearly torn down.