Chiesa di San Gioachimo

Chiesa di San Gioachimo stands in Milan’s Municipio Two as a neo-Renaissance church with a Greek-cross plan. The architect Enrico Terzaghi designed it in 1885. From outside, a grand arch and pediment lead into a short, columned pronaos. Originally, the church entrance faced Milan’s Via Galilei.

Monsignor Luigi Nazari di Calabiana commissioned the building, which dedicates its worship to Saint Joachim. Saint Joachim is traditionally Mary’s father and Saint Anne’s husband. Inside, a broad central space rises beneath a polygonal tiburium and a smaller presbytery dome. A tall bell tower stands behind the apse. It contains five bells played in Milan’s Ambrosian style. A Milanese 1920s piazza now receives the entrance.

Two side chapels honour Saint Joachim and the Madonna del Suffragio through painted stucco bas-reliefs. Two stained-glass windows add separate memorials inside. One depicts the Crucifixion for parishioners killed during the First World War. The other shows young Jesus with John the Baptist. A bronze relief by Enrico Manfrini gathers Mary, Jesus, Joachim, Anne, Rita, and Anthony.