Sanctuary of San Martino

The sanctuary  of San Martino Vescovo (Italian: Santuario di San Martino Vescovo) in Balsamo (of which he is the patron saint and protector) is a religious building in the city of Cinisello Balsamo, located at the confluence of Via San Saturnino (south) and Via San Martino (north), facing the Avenue of Remembrances. Historically, it has also been the reference church of the local Balsamese community for centuries, around which the city's built-up area developed until the early 20th century.

History
The first historical news about a religious building dedicated to Martin of Tours dates back to the end of the 13th century, when an Ecclesia Sancti Martini belonging to the parish of Desio is reported within the list of churches of the Ambrosian archdiocese appended to Goffredo da Bussero's Liber Notitiæ Sanctorum Mediolani. The primitive building must have been certainly not modest in size, so much so that it had at least two altars inside, one of which was dedicated to Our Lady and located in a side chapel along the southern side of the church.

Subsequent historical records of the Ecclesia Sancti Martini, until the 19th century, are based exclusively on pastoral visits conducted from the mid-16th century onward. Their importance is crucial not only for the work of census and survey of the historical buildings present in the archdiocese, but because in many cases these visits were the driving force for the stylistic or architectural renovation of places of worship, as was also the case, moreover, for San Martino. However, the sources do not attest to any further details either on the style or on the actual dimensions of the building prior to the twentieth-century enlargement. From the pastoral visitation of Father Leonetto Clivone in 1567, it appears that the church was still substantially unchanged, characterized by a rectangular plan, a single nave, and a bell tower. The situation was unchanged at the visitation of Charles Borromeo to Balsamo on 8 July 1579, who in his delineatio still reported the baptistery and sacristy to the right of the choir. The oldest cartographic reproduction of the church known at present dates from this visit. It is an overall map of the parish of Desio, surveying both villages of Cinisello and Balsamo developed around the two respective churches. In the subsequent pastoral visitation conducted in 1596, Monsignor Baldassarre Cipolla considered the building too small to accommodate all the faithful of Balsamo, suggesting an enlargement that, moreover, could coincide with the rebuilding of the church consistent with the new provisions of the Counter-Reformation. Therefore, the drafting of a project bearing the signature of a certain Moneta dates back to the following year, 1597, which included the transformation of the apse from semicircular to square, the replacement of the baptismal font with a polygonal baptistery (placed on the northern side of the building, near the facade) and the arrangement of the accesses to the bell tower and sacristy (communicating through two doors with the choir). On the other hand, the orientation of the church was maintained, with the apse placed to the west and the facade to the east, this one equipped with three entrances.

The work was completed in the early seventeenth century, so much so that Federico Borromeo in his pastoral visit of 21 July 1604, attested to the presence of eight side chapels (whose dedication is not specified), the relocation of the baptismal font, the reconfiguration of the apse and the connection between the chancel and the bell tower, lamenting, however, the absence of the sacristy (the work on which was blocked at the foundations) and raising concerns about the overall dimensions of the building, which were still considered excessively small. The report of Monsignor Antonio Verri, following his pastoral visit in 1745, finally turns out to be the last source documenting the original layout of the single-room church. An enrichment of the church furnishings and fittings was also recorded on that occasion. Subsequent to this visit, in 1758, a second map of the parish church of Desio was drawn up, which went on to confirm the situation already illustrated two centuries earlier by the previous one, with the villages of Cinisello and Balsamo huddled around the two churches. In 1856 the present bell tower, more than sixty metres high, was completed and inaugurated, commissioned by Don Giovanni Prato, then parish priest of Balsamo. Until 1877 in the immediate vicinity of the church stretched linearly southward the historic cemetery of Balsamo, identified by a stationary cross dating from the 16th century, now dispersed. Following donations of land by Marquise Cristiana Morosina, widow of Marquis Casati Stampa of Soncino, this could be relocated and enlarged in a more decentralized position with respect to the built-up area, located southeast of the previous one. The current layout of the sanctuary and the Latin cross apsidal layout with three naves (a major central nave and two minor side aisles) can be attributed to the major expansion works of the early 20th century, carried out under the guidance of Don Antonio Colombo. The church thus reached its current dimensions of 24 m wide by 30 m long, flanked from 1923 by the Pio XI oratory, designed by architect Oreste Scanavini.

As a result of the urban and demographic growth of Balsamo, which since 1928 had been united with Cinisello in the new municipality of Cinisello Balsamo, the church of San Martino came to find itself in a relatively marginal position in relation to the new urban settlements, which had developed in the direction of Cinisello. It was therefore decided to build a new parish church, decentralized approximately half a kilometre further northeast, capable of providing a greater capacity for the faithful. The work took place between 1957 and 1961, when the new church of San Martino Vescovo, in Soncino Square, was blessed and opened for worship. Since then, the importance of the old church (since 1978 referred to as a sanctuary ) has been waning, although it continued to be used to officiate some masses and celebrations until 2012.

In fact, during the earthquake of 27 January 2012, the crucifix detached from the statue of the Blessing Virgin (placed on top of the facade) and some tiles: the statue was secured and removed, while the entire building was declared unfit for use by the Fire Department.

In August 2022, restoration work on the bell tower was completed. On 25 September the bells resumed ringing.

Description
The sanctuary is oriented in an east-west direction, with the facade set to the east and the apse to the west. The building is externally white-plastered, with the roof covered with terracotta tiles: in fact, its only two highlights are the dome, which fits into the transept, and the facade, characterized by a semicircular stained-glass window and some statues.

Facade
The facade of the sanctuary clearly shows the internal division of the rooms: on the lower level, the three naves are marked by six lesenes that frame - on the sides - the two minor entrances to the church, characterized by an ashlar decorative layout, consisting of plaster on masonry. The main portal opens at the nave, made of carved wood, with a mixtilinear cymatium, decorated with plant motifs and a central shield with a cross; on either side of the portal are two niches, containing a statue of Martin of Tours (left) and a statue of St. Anne with the Child Mary (right), respectively. The lower floor is visually divided from the upper floor by a thick string-course band, in the centre of which is the stucco inscription "DIVO MARTINO DICATUM." Above this is a semicircular stained-glass window, flanked on either side by two bas-reliefs with cherubs and festoons with plant motifs, also made of stucco. Lastly, crowning the upper floor is a triangular tympanum, which bears at the top a statue of the Blessing Virgin (holding a large crucifix in her left hand) and at the sides two cherubs; below these, two volutes connect the upper and lower central parts.

Bell tower
The bell tower, with a square cross-section, is located at its southwestern end and is of a yellow-ochre hue, surmounted by a red dome. Above the clocks, which are present on all four sides, is the belfry, containing five bells (the three major ones located to the north, east and south and the two minor ones located to the west). These are historical examples, having survived the requisitions of the war, when the fascist government ordered their confiscation for weapons production. In early 1943, in fact, the three major bells were lowered from the belfry and delivered to the historic Barigozzi foundry in Milan for casting. However, due to the armistice announced on September 8, they were never melted down and returned to Balsamo while the war was still in progress, thanks to a stratagem of Don Piero Carcano who, having managed to get them back and clandestinely transport them to the village, kept them hidden in a haystack.

Interior
The interior features a cycle of frescoes made starting in 1892 by Lombard painter Carlo Farina, commissioned by the then parish priest of Balsamo Don Giuseppe Molgora. They cover the ceiling of the nave, with putti in flight alternating with bishop's emblems, and the four pendentives of the dome, with the four evangelists (St. Matthew with an angel, St. Mark with a lion, St. John with an eagle, and St. Luke writing the Gospel), depicted in robes of dull colours, with brown, green, and red tones predominating. In contrast, the dome depicts Martin of Tours, wearing a yellow vestment and mitre, with black and white pallium on his chest and crosier in his right hand, carried in glory by a host of angels. Also belonging to the same decorative campaign would be two circular medallions, with a sky-blue background, depicting St. Ambrose and St. Charles Borromeo, placed in the left and right transept vaults, respectively. In particular, St. Ambrose is portrayed in a purple chasuble, with a yellow mitre and white pallium with black crosses on his chest; in his left hand, he carries a lash, while his right hand is raised in blessing. To a later decorative campaign, on the other hand, belong the decorations on the back wall of the right aisle; these depict a frescoed altar within an apse with a coffered dome, surrounded by Corinthian columns, while on the curved cymatium are two putti holding an oval with Mary's heart crowned with thorns. Of particular artistic significance are the sacred furnishings preserved there: in fact, a wooden statue depicting Christ at the Column, placed inside the niche of the altar of the same name, located in the left aisle, and a second one depicting Our Lady of Sorrows, located in the right aisle, are reported. Both statues come from the demolished church of San Michele in Monza, and were placed in the sanctuary on 24 October 1789, replacing the previous altars dedicated to Our Lady of the Snow and Virgin of the Rosary.

In the presbytery, on the other hand, the relics of St. Saturninus are kept under the high altar (made between 1825 and 1849). Transported there between 16 and 18 October 1926, they are placed in a chiselled bronze and crystal urn, the work of architect Scanavini. Also preserved in the church is the tibia of Blessed Balsamo Abate, which arrived in Balsamo in 1935, along with another of his relics. The head and other relics that belonged to Blessed Carino of Balsamo were moved there from Forli Cathedral in 1934 and are currently kept at the new church of San Martino.

Of some interest are also the chancel, in the left transept, and the pulpit, set against a wall in the nave. The former, made of carved and painted cream-coloured wood with gilded friezes, is divided into five mirrors, each of which is decorated in relief with whirls, musical instruments and sheet music; the second, also made of cream-painted wood, with relief friezes, has the parapet divided into compartments, depicting the mystic lamb and a number of cards with sacred inscriptions, and below the canopy the Dove of the Holy Spirit, in relief, along with a cross with a serpent and the tables of commandments.

Pipe organ
On the chancel in the left arm of the transept is the pipe organ, built in the early 20th century by the Aletti brothers of Monza.

The instrument has tracker action and has a window console with two keyboards of 58 notes each and a straight pedalboard of 27 notes. The wooden case, in neoclassical style, is of simple geometric workmanship and frames the loft, which consists of 25 zinc principal pipes arranged in a single cusp.