CRIPTA DI SAN SEPOLCRO

A place of profound sacredness, the crypt was chosen by Saint Charles Borromeo as his personal place of prayer, where he went every Wednesday and Friday afternoon. It was not uncommon to see him spend entire nights in what he called 'the gymnasium of the Holy Spirit', in adoration of the simulacrum of Christ's tomb. For this reason, after his canonisation, a polychrome terracotta statue was placed depicting the saint kneeling before the sarcophagus. The crypt also allows visitors to come into contact with one of the oldest testimonies of the city's history. The paving, consisting of large slabs of white 'Verona' stone, in fact comes from the paving of the ancient Roman forum from the 4th century, the main square of the Roman civitas, where the major civil and religious activities took place. Reopened to the public after fifty years in 2016, the crypt subsequently underwent a complex restoration project financed by the MIBAC and completed in late spring 2019, aimed mainly at recovering the decorated surfaces. Thanks to the restoration, in fact, admirable frescoes and decorations have re-emerged, such as the ornamental cycle with stars and plant elements on the vaults of the presbytery, dating back to the late 13th century. Also restored are the two beautiful and intense crucifixions (one in the descending staircase, the other 14th-century in the presbytery), the three standing figures of Magdalene, John the Baptist and Helena, the mother of Constantine (or perhaps St. Catherine of Alexandria), The Supper at Simon's House in the left wing of the presbytery, the 16th-century frescoes of Our Lady of Loreto and Our Lady and Saints Roch and John the Baptist in the atrium, and the 17th-century stuccoes and decorations in the apse depicting the instruments of the Passion.