Commissioned by Azzone Visconti and commonly attributed to Francesco Pecorari from Cremona, the church of San Gottardo is composed of a single nave, which narrows to the north in correspondence to the sacristy and the square bell tower, and ends in the south in a polygonal apse.
The facade, which had two sloping sides and three windows, was practically demolished by Piermarini in 1770 during the transformation of Palazzo Reale. The entrance was then transferred to the southern flank where the rose window and the portal were partly reconstructed.
The interior, a single nave divided into three bays decorated with frescoes of the Virgin, was completely distorted by the interventions of the eighteenth-century period.
Azzone Visconti suffered from gout and dedicated the church to St. Gotthard of Hildesheim, patron saint of gallstone and gout sufferers.
The clock located on the bell tower is believed by some sources to be the oldest public clock in Milan and inspired the name of the underlying area - Contrada delle Ore - which nowadays has become via delle Ore.
Don’t miss the school of Giotto Crucifixion, rediscovered in the last century underneath the plaster at the base of the tower, and the tomb of Azzone Visconti by the Pisan sculptor Giovanni di Balduccio, remounted in the apse.