Church of Santa Maria della Consolazione (Chiesa Santa Maria della Consolazione)

The church of Santa Maria della Consolazione was built from 1501 on the site of a medieval oratory, at the behest of Sigismondo d’Este, encouraged by his confessor, Fra Marino Baldi dei Servi di Maria. It seems that Ercole I donated the land on which it was built. Sigismondo, son of the duke, instead sponsored a decorative campaign, through a conspicuous bequest dated 1524, the year of his death.

At present, there are not sufficient elements to formulate an attribution. The names of Giovanni Stancari – who actually appears to have been an official who performed bureaucratic duties, rather than a designer – and the ducal architect, Biagio Rossetti, have previously been proposed. However, the exterior is bare and lacks the elegance of the terracotta surface pieces that can be confidently attributed to Rossetti, and the interior has an architectural syntax that appears far removed from his.

The church once housed the sepulchre of Marfisa d’Este (after 1608), which was later moved to the Charterhouse.

The apse, which was already built as early as 1515, is much larger and brighter than the nave, an indication of the complex events that marked the history of the building.