The Shrine of Santa Maria della Steccata is a Greek-cross design Renaissance church in central Parma, Italy. The name derives from the fence (Italian: steccato) in the church. A Nursing Madonna is enshrined within, crowned on 27 May 1601 by a Marian devotee, Fray Giacomo di Forli of the Capuchin order. Pope Benedict XVI raised the Marian sanctuary to the status of Basilica minor on 9 February 2008.
By 1492, the Knights of Malta built a small oratory here to house a putatively miraculous icon depicting Saint John the Baptist. It became associated with a religious confraternity in a neighboring house that had the image of the Madonna and Child , mentioned above, on the facade. Rumors of miracles performed by this image led to masses flocking to the site. This required the erection of a picket fence or stockade (steccato) around the icon, hence giving the image its name.
The Papal bull dated 1 March 1493 by Pope Alexander VI mentions the image by this name. [1] The popularity of the icons led the frescoed icon to be detached from a wall and moved to the oratory, and when that proved too small to accommodate the crowds, the commune of Parma patronized the construction of the church (1521—1539). [2]
The architects were Bernardino Zaccagni and his son, Giovanni Francisco, with modifications by Gian Francesco d'Agrate, who also worked on the statuary gracing the roof-line. The dome (1526—1527) is attributed to Agrate, although with the help by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger. [3] The church was finally consecrated in 1539. The sacristy was rebuilt over the following centuries. [4]
The layout is that mainly of a centralized Greek Cross church with four arms, although the entrance elongates through an arch to form the Coro dei Cavallieri. In the crossing is the majestic dome. Each arm has a half-dome, while between the arms are four corner chapels.
The interior was decorated by prominent artists, both local and foreign to Parma over the following centuries after completion of the building.
The tribune has a Baroque altar in the choir was begun by Mauro Oddi and completed in 1758-1765 by Andrea and Domenico della Meschina. The main altarpiece displays the famous icon inside a gilded frame replete with cherubs and putti and a gilded crown; the ensemble flanked by two King Solomonic columns flanked by two pillars. At the base are two statues, Saint Joseph and King David, sculpted by Francesco and Giovanni Baratta. In the hemicycle above the altar, is a large fresco depicting a Coronation of the Virgin with Saints (1541), painted by Michelangelo Anselmi. [5] He also painted the adjacent ceiling fresco depicting the Adoration of the Magi. Behind the altar is a semicircle of wooden choir stalls.
In the sacristy and sanctuary, many of the fresco figures and decorations were painted or planned by a young Parmigianino, [6] whilst the church also houses c.1523 two oil on canvas paintings by him of Saint Cecilia and King David, both originally intended as organ doors.
Other artists include Bernardino Gatti, who frescoed parts of the ceiling. The Dutch painter Jan Soens painted a Holy Family. Giambettino Cignaroli painted a Trinity with Saints Niccolò, Basilius, and Gregory. A somewhat retrograde mannerist Madonna and Bambino, with Saints Joseph & George was painted by Marcantonio Franceschini in 1718. A mannerist Redeemer with St. Anthony of Padua and the Magdalen was painted by Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli, based on a commission from 1605 for the price of 60 ducats and 76 soldi. [7] The Parmesan painter Aurelio Barili painted frescoes in 1588.
The church contains funeral monuments of Bertrando Rossi, Ottavio Farnese, Sforzino Sforza, and Adam Albert von Neipperg (by Lorenzo Bartolini).
In the crypt are the tombs of twenty-six members of the Farnese family including Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma and his wife Infanta Maria of Portugal. Also the later (titular) Dukes of Parma and Piacenza (of the House of Bourbon-Parma) found here their final resting place. In a niche is a crystal urn containing the heart of Charles III, Duke of Parma.
On 28 August 2010, the body of Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma, former Head of the House of Bourbon-Parma between 1977 and 2010 and ex-husband of Princess Irene of the Netherlands, was interred in the crypt. [8]
On 29 September 2012, Carlos Hugo's granddaughter, Princess Luisa of Bourbon-Parma, second child of Carlos, Duke of Parma, was baptised at the church.[ citation needed ]
In 2021 and 2022, Princess María Teresa of Bourbon-Parma and Princess Cécile Marie of Bourbon-Parma were buried there, respectively.
Ottavio Farnese reigned as Duke of Parma and Piacenza from 1547 until his death and Duke of Castro from 1545 to 1547 and from 1553 until his death.
The Duchy of Parma and Piacenza was an Italian state created in 1545 and located in northern Italy, in the current region of Emilia-Romagna.
Ranuccio I Farnese reigned as Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Castro from 1592. A firm believer in absolute monarchy, Ranuccio, in 1594, centralised the administration of Parma and Piacenza, thus rescinding the nobles' hitherto vast prerogative.
Ranuccio II Farnese was the sixth Duke of Parma and Piacenza from 1646 until his death nearly 50 years later. He was also the Duke of Castro from 1646 until 1649.
The House of Farnese was an influential family in Renaissance Italy. The titles of Duke of Parma and Piacenza and Duke of Castro were held by various members of the family.
Odoardo Farnese, also known as Odoardo I Farnese to distinguish him from his grandson Odoardo II Farnese, was Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Castro from 1622 to 1646.
Alessandro Farnese was an Italian military leader, who was Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands from 1678 until 1682.
Francesco Farnese reigned as the seventh Farnese Duke of Parma and Piacenza from 1694 until his death. Married to Dorothea Sophia of the Palatinate, his brother Odoardo's widow, to avoid the return of her dowry, Francesco curtailed court expenditure, enormous under his father and predecessor, Ranuccio II, while preventing the occupation of his Duchy of Parma, nominally a Papal fief, during the War of the Spanish Succession.
Odoardo Farnese was the eldest son of Duke Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma and Piacenza. Odoardo was the Hereditary Prince of Parma from his birth until his death. He was the father of the famously domineering Elisabeth, Queen of Spain.
Isabella d'Este was Duchess of Parma, and second wife of Duke Ranuccio II Farnese. She was the paternal grandmother of Elisabetta Farnese, Queen of Spain.
The House of Bourbon-Parma is a cadet branch of the Spanish royal family, whose members once ruled as King of Etruria and as Duke of Parma and Piacenza, Guastalla, and Lucca. The House descended from the French Capetian dynasty in male line. Its name of Bourbon-Parma comes from the main name (Bourbon) and the other (Parma) from the title of Duke of Parma. The title was held by the Spanish Bourbons, as the founder Philip, Duke of Parma was the great-grandson of Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma. The House of Bourbon-Parma is today the Sovereign House of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (agnatically) and all members of the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg are members of the House of Bourbon-Parma with the title of "Princes/Princesses" and the predicate of Royal Highness.
Margherita de' Medici was Duchess of Parma and Piacenza by her marriage to Odoardo Farnese, Duke of Parma. Margherita was regent of Piacenza in 1635, and regent of the entire duchy from 1646 until 1648 during the minority of her son.
Margaret Yolande of Savoy was Princess of Savoy from birth and later Duchess consort of Parma. A proposed bride for her first cousin Louis XIV of France, she later married Ranuccio Farnese, son of the late Odoardo Farnese and Margherita de' Medici. She died in childbirth in 1663.
Maria d'Este was a Modenese princess and Duchess of Parma as the wife of Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma. She was a daughter of Francesco I d'Este, Duke of Modena and Maria Caterina Farnese.
Princess Enrichetta d'Este was a Duchess of Parma by marriage to her cousin Antonio Farnese, Duke of Parma. She was the Regent of Parma in 1731 during her alleged pregnancy in the interregnum after her husband's death.
Maria Caterina Farnese was a member of the Ducal House of Farnese. She was Duchess of Modena as the first wife of Francesco I d'Este, Duke of Modena. In some sources she is known simply as Maria Farnese.
Margherita Maria Farnese was an Italian noblewoman born into the House of Farnese. She was the Duchess of Modena and Reggio by marriage to her first cousin Francesco II d'Este, Duke of Modena. Her niece was Elisabeth Farnese, wife of Philip V of Spain.
Margherita Farnese, was an Italian noblewoman member of the House of Farnese and by marriage Hereditary Princess of Mantua between 1581–1583.
Margherita Aldobrandini, was an Italian noblewoman member of the Aldobrandini family and by marriage Duchess consort of Parma and Piacenza during 1600–1622. She was also Regent of both Duchies during 1626–1628 on behalf of her minor son.
The history of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, a former state on the Italian Peninsula whose capital was the city of Parma, begins in 1545 and ends in 1860.
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