# Rotonda della Besana

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Content updated: 2026-06-22

Rotonda della Besana brings late Baroque architecture into the heart of Milan, surrounding a former church with an undulating brick portico. The complex began as a cemetery beside the Ospedale Maggiore.

Construction started in the late seventeenth century under engineer Arrisio Arrigoni, while Francesco Croce contributed to the church dedicated to San Michele Arcangelo ai Nuovi Sepolcri. Its Greek-cross plan gives the building four equal arms. An octagonal dome and slender lantern rise above their crossing, while four matching façades keep the exterior restrained. Inside, three naves stand on stone pillars with fluted shafts and Ionic capitals decorated with skulls and bones. The surrounding portico adds brick arches and curved lines, creating changing views around the central space.

Raised tombs once occupied those arcades, protecting burials from water infiltration. The cemetery closed under Austrian health regulations, after which the complex served as a barracks, barn, and hospital laundry. Milan later restored the site as public green space and an exhibition venue. The starkest detail remains the carved skulls and bones above the interior columns.

- City: [Milan](https://mytuur.com/en/city/milan/)

## Photos

- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_RotondadellaBesana_66f6aec016e887115a78d09f_0.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RotondaDellaBesanaPhotoMergePanorama.jpg)

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