Martinengo

Constructed at the behest of Bartolomeo Colleoni to fulfil a vow of his wife, Tisbe Martinengo, who died in 1471, the Monastery of Santa Chiara had a long and tormented life. Started in 1474, inhabited by the Poor Clares since 1479, it was shut down in 1798 by Napoleon and finally closed in 1810. From 1822, a Boarding School was established in its halls. Later, a primary school, the music band and an after-work club were housed therein.

The structures of the complex were built as a nod to a great austerity, marked in the large cloister by the overlapping orders of arched loggias on masonry pillars.
Extending along the edges was a vegetable garden protected on three sides by a very high river pebble fence and, on the fourth, by an elegant loggia with round arches supported by sandstone columns. From the cloister, rebuilt in the 17th century, one can admire the 15th-century bell tower with a conical spire similar to that of the Monastero dell’Incoronata.

In the 1920s, the church and choir were saved from the foolish plan of the Fascists to turn them into a cinema-theatre by demolishing the partition and altar. Instead, they were converted into a war memorial in 1936. The transformation involves the frontal spaces – the enclosure wall that surrounded the complex has been replaced by five high arches in fascist styling whilst Giuseppe Siccardi’s War Memorial is found in the courtyard.

The original, typically Franciscan layout with a double hall divided by partition walls, gabled façade, cloister and cusped bell tower is still visible. Inside, one can admire the frescoes of the partition that divided the public hall from the cloistered hall. Made by the Maestro di Martinengo, they recount the Life and Passion of Christ and Franciscan devotion. Above the altar of the public hall is the altarpiece, painted in 1936 by Girolamo Poloni, a clear sign of the church’s new purpose.