A few months ago I had the opportunity to visit this small dark corner of Milan: the church of "San Bernardino alle Ossa" is located a stone's throw from the cathedral and the shop windows of the center, in fact, just deviate a little to find yourself in this macabre and fascinating place..
From a chronological point of view, the hospital together with the cemetery were built in 1127, while the structure intended to preserve the bones of the dead was built in 1210. Next to this ossuary, in 1269, the Church was erected of San Bernardino alle Ossa.
Soon the cemetery's capacity was exhausted and, in 1210, a chamber was built to contain the bones of the dead. In 1269, next to the latter, a small church was erected dedicated to Maria Addorolorata and to Saints Ambrose and Sebastian. Only in the 15th century was it dedicated to San Bernardino da Siena.
A narrow corridor immediately to the right of the church entrance allows access to the ossuary chapel. It is a small room with a square plan, embellished with an altar and a niche with the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows kneeling near the dead Jesus.
The walls are almost entirely covered with skulls and bones, arranged in niches, on cornices, pillars and doors. The bones also make up the decorations on the walls. The remains probably belong to the dead of the Brolo hospital dedicated to the care of lepers, now destroyed, and to the bodies moved from the suppressed seventeenth-century cemeteries. The skulls locked in the boxes above the entrance door are those of those sentenced to death.
All the bones were arranged in the niches, on the cornice, adorning the pillars, embellishing the doors. In this decorative motif, the macabre sense blends properly with the grace of the Rococo.
THE BLOOD WHEEL
The church of Santo Stefano is also called Santo Stefano ad rotam sanguinis. This name derives from a particular legend, according to which the blood of the Christians killed during the clash with the Arians, condensed into a large wheel which, rolling, landed against the door of the church
THE GHOST IN THE BELL TOWER
Some argue that a long time ago, inside the bell tower of the church of Santo Stefano (Which is located next to S.Bernardino), a monk was walled up alive. Today, his ghost continues to roam the tower and, some nights, his screams can be heard.
The vault is frescoed by Sebastiano Ricci, forerunner of Tiepolo, who introduced Venetian Baroque painting to Milan.
According to a legend, on November 2, the day of the dead, a little girl, whose remains are found at the altar of the ossuary, comes back to life by dragging the other skeletons in a macabre dance.
Who will be brave enough to visit the church on that very day?
Balm for my dark soul.