Today’s basilica is still attesting of Giulio Romano’s genius and summing up the most important moments in Polirone’s history.
From 1540 to 1545, Giulio built again the basilica without destroying the ancient Romanesque and Gothic structures, and used original solutions to let different architectural styles coexist in a homogeneous and refined interior.
The ambulatory and the immured columns in the presbytery are Romanesque, as the dome cladding and the vaults are Gothic. In 1542 and 1559, Modena artist Antonio Begarelli, whom Vasari called “the Michelangelo of terracotta”, sculpted 32 statues of saints to deck naves and side chapels. The wonderful sacristy is furnished with carved wardrobes by Giovanni Maria Piantavigna (1561-1563). Between the transept and the sacristy lies Matilda of Tuscany’s alabaster sarcophagus, supported by four red marble lions. In 1633, her corpse was moved to St. Peter Basilica in Rome. Polirone basilica contains also the XI-XII century Santa Maria oratory; it was built before Matilda’s death and then included in the major church in 1130, according to the structure of St. Mary oratory in Cluny. Several historians suppose that Matilda was originally buried there, in front of the altar, where a large mosaic depicting the four cardinal virtues lied.

Address: Piazza Teofilo Folengo, 19 – San Benedetto Po – Oltrepo Phone number: 0376 615124 – 0376 623036 – Fax: 0376623095 E-mail: iat@oltrepomantova.it Web site: http://www.comune.san-benedetto-po.mn.it – http://www.terredimatilde.it Opening: Access to the Basilica: every day, 7.30 – 12.30 and 15.30 – 18.30