The event comes following a careful process of studies and restorations that have involved the chapel and aims to underline the historical and monumental value of the complex of San Lorenzo Maggiore, in order to make the important traces of the ancient splendor of the basilica usable .
The initiative is part of the project "There is no more beautiful church in the world (Benzo d'Alba): knowing, enhancing and disseminating the heritage of San Lorenzo Maggiore in Milan", strongly desired by the community of the parish of San Lorenzo Maggiore through the "Friends of Sant'Aquilino" group, promoted by the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan, Department of History, Archeology and Art History, Chair of Medieval Archaeology, School of Specialization in Archaeological Heritage, by the Superintendency of Archeology of Lombardy, from the Lombardy Region.
“If you want to get to know ancient Milan, you cannot ignore San Lorenzo – says Mons. Gianni Zappa, parish priest of the basilica of San Lorenzo Maggiore. The recovery of this memory constitutes one of the most significant cultural projects for the whole city”.
“With the new layout – continues Msgr. Gianni Zappa – we intend to enhance the journey of ancient Milan which from Sant'Eustorgio crosses San Lorenzo, the Ambrosiana, Sant'Ambrogio, arriving as far as the Duomo”.
“The new didactic set-up that opens today in S. Aquilino – underlines Silvia Lusuardi Siena – is the first result of a path of knowledge and valorisation which has the objective of obtaining the attention of the Milanese institutions and fellow citizens on the basilica of S. Lorenzo, one of the most extraordinary and preserved late antique and early Christian monuments of the city. Promoting knowledge and disseminating it, activating the desire to understand, respect and therefore protect the spiritual and material heritage, assets and resources of the whole city: it is in this perspective that we have worked with young archaeologists".
For her part, Elisabetta Neri recalls how “The church of S. Lorenzo appeared to medieval authors, as early as the eighth century, as one of the “most beautiful in the world”. On the trail of this ancient splendour, to quote the title of our project, we have set up an educational itinerary in S. Aquilino, exhibited some 'relics' selected from the great mass of finds recovered in the excavations of the XNUMXs, set up a filmed on the original paintings of the upper gallery of the chapel, inaccessible to the public".
The chapel of S. Aquilino is one of the three bodies – together with the contemporary chapel of Sant'Ippolito and the chronologically subsequent one of San Sisto – annexed to the paleo-Christian basilica of San Lorenzo Maggiore.
Built around 410, it was originally named after St. Genesius, a Christian from Arles who was martyred in 303 during the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian. According to tradition, the cult of the saint was introduced by the Empress Galla Placidia, whose remains, according to sixteenth-century tradition, were kept inside the monumental marble sarcophagus, which still exists in the chapel.
Sant'Aquilino has an octagonal plan, a particularly common feature in sepulchral and baptismal buildings because it is a symbol of the eighth day, that of the Resurrection. Inside, it has alternating circular and rectangular niches carved into the thickness of the walls and an upper gallery.
Galvano Fiamma, a 1652th-century chronicler, recalls the decoration of the chapel in porphyry, precious marbles and mosaics, with splendid figures. Similarly, the English traveler Rudolph Symonds drew, in XNUMX, next to the sarcophagus still preserved today and the images that adorned the niches, the decoration of the dome, which shows a procession of standing figures around a band with portraits inscribed in a circle and a central medallion with a face.
The excavation finds confirm these sources and enrich the picture: the walls of the octagon were covered with a plinth with mirrors, surmounted by architectural partitions, marked by pilasters with pseudo-Corinthian capitals where traces of color can still be seen. The space between one pilaster strip and another was occupied by large roundels, marked by curvilinear frames, as can still be seen today in the apse of San Vitale in Ravenna (XNUMXth century).
The passage from the atrium to the octagon is underlined by a monumental portal (4,82 x 3,70 m) in Luni marble, recovered from a previous Roman building and dated to the first half of the XNUMXst century AD
The upper band of the architrave presents a procession of chariots with celestial divinities or personifications of planets separated by shells with couples now of dolphins, now of doves. The jambs are decorated with a band with cupids and small animals, followed by two others with plant candlesticks alternating with small figured squares.
In ancient times, the four walls of the atrium of the chapel were embellished, in the upper parts, with mosaics depicting the celestial Jerusalem. The modest portions that have been preserved allow us to reconstruct the organization of the entire mosaic cycle, distributed on two registers, with life-size standing figures, each framed by gilded pillars studded with gems. In the upper register, above the entrance, six inscriptions preserve the names of the Apostles John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, James and Judas, of which remain the feet and the lower edges of the garments on a gold background.
Even the niches and the upper portion of the walls were occupied by a mosaic cycle of which, however, only two scenes survive in the basins of the semicircular niches.
The east niche retains only four fragments of the decoration: it is a scene with a pastoral setting which represents the ascent on a quadriga of a figure, read now as Elijah, now as Christ-Sun victorious over death.
A mountainous landscape with a waterfall and flowers welcomes two shepherds with the same clothing: a short woolen cloak with a hood. The one on the left indicates his eyes, in disbelief at the vision that occurs above him; the one on the right is holding the musical instrument of the syrinx in his hand. The figure, mutilated, seated almost in the center of the scene, differs from the other shepherds in the cloak of different colors and the singular headgear.
High above, against a golden sky and above gray clouds streaked with red, stands a quadriga pulled by white horses, guided by a figure of which only the hem of his cloak remains.
The western niche preserves the only complete scene present in Sant'Aquilino, which sees Christ among the Apostles in a meadow between two bodies of water. Christ seated on a throne has his right hand raised to heaven and, in his left, he holds an open scroll with fake writings and, further down, the Apostles around him.
Basilica of San Lorenzo Maggiore (Corso di Porta Ticinese, 35)
Visiting hours: Monday to Saturday, 9.30am to 18.3pm – Sunday, 9am to 19pm
