This church is known as Chiesa del Gesù or Chiesa dei Santi Ambrogio e Andrea because its 6th-century founder was Bishop Onorato from Milan, who ran away to Genoa to avoid Langobard persecutions. In fact, Saint Ambrose is Milan’s patron saint. The church stands in what used to be the poultry-farmers’ district in the Middle Ages - as proved by the existence of the nearby alley Salita Pollaiuoli. Abandoned in the 7th century by the Milanese community and taken over in the 16th century by the Jesuits, the church was re-built between 1552 and 1589 with its present-day splendour and multicoloured aspect – a typical example of the Genoese Baroque style. Three masterpieces are housed within: two works by Peter Paul Rubens, the Circumcision (1608, on the high altar) and Saint Ignatius healing a possessed woman (third chapel in the left aisle), as well as one by Guido Reni, the Assumption (third chapel in the right aisle). The 19th-century façade, based on drawings by Rubens, was re-built after the demolition of a building that connected the church to Palazzo Ducale.
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