VIRTUAL TOUR OF THE CHURCH OF SANTA CORONA
The Church of Santa Corona, founded in 1270 and the fulcrum of a Dominican monastic complex is undoubtedly worthy to be visited. The Latin cross church was built to protect the relic of the Santa Spina donated in 1259 by Luigi IX, king of France, to the bishop Bartolomeo da Breganze, and displayed to the public on Good Friday. Moreover, in this Church, Andrea Palladio was buried in 1580. But, in the mid-1800s the remains were moved to the Memorial of the main cemetery where they rest the "illustrious people of Vicenza". Characteristic is the façade with a gabled shape, which recalls the Po Valley "wind" motif.
The inside, austere and solemn, has three naves, with presbytery designed in 1480 by Lorenzo da Bologna. From the right-side door of the crypt you enter the Valmarana chapel, designed by Palladio in 1576. The artistic heritage is very noteworthy, with some very prominent works: in the third chapel on the right, “Adorazione dei Magi” painted by Paolo Veronese in 1573; in the chapel at the end of the right nave, “I Santi Pietro e Paolo e Pio V adorano Maria”, juvenile masterwork by the venetian Giovan Battista Pittoni (1723); in the fifth altar of the left nave, “Battesimo di Cristo", mature masterwork by the venetian Giovanni Bellini (1427-1516).
The magnificent complex of the main altar is decorated with from polychrome inlays of fine marble, lapis lazuli, coral, carnelian and mother of pearl. The Dominicans were driven away following the Napoleonic suppressions, in 1810 the propriety passed to the Municipality of Vicenza and today it is inserted in the circuit of the Musei Civici (€ 3.00 – Ticket office at IAT or in basilica palladiana).
The adjacent convent is now used as an archaeological-naturalistic museum.
ON LOAN May - September 2025: the masterpiece "Adorazione dei Magi" has been loaned to the Museo Nacional del Prado for the exhibition "Paolo Veronese (1528-1588)"
to be held in Madrid from May 27 to September 21, 2025.
Beato Bartolomeo of Breganze (Breganze 1200 – Vicenza 1270).
Born in the ancient and well-known family of Breganze, since he was very young, he chose the life of the preacher in the Dominican order attracting many vocations. He was highly esteemed by the Popes of the time, Gregorio IX and Innocenzo IV, who appointed him Bishop in 1253. Two years later he was sent to Vicenza to Pope Alessandro IV, but he had to move first to England and then to Paris to walk away from Ezzelino da Romano. The king Luigi XIV wanted to meet him and, grateful for the consolation he received in Terra Santa during the crusades, he gave him a thorn of the Holy Crown of Jesus Christ. Come back to Vicenza with the precious relic, he built a Dominican convent and the Church called Santa Corona, that still today contains the precious gift and the rests of the Blessed. Pope Pio VI beatified Bartolomeo da Breganze on the 11th of September, 1793.
The reliquary of the Sacra Spina, among the most ancient and precious sacred goldsmith works existing today in Vicenza, is displayed at the Diocesan Museum.
VIRTUAL TOUR OF THE CHURCH OF SANTA CORONA
