Basilica di Sant'Andrea

The Basilica di Sant'Andrea in Vercelli is a Roman Catholic church and the most architecturally significant example of the Romanesque-to-Gothic transitional style in northern Italy. Construction began in 1219 at the initiative of Cardinal Guala Bicchieri, a papal legate who had served in England and funded the project on his return as an act of gratitude to the Holy See — the church was completed by 1227, a remarkably short span for a building of its ambition. Its fabric weaves together the heavy horizontality of Lombard Romanesque with the slender piers and ribbed vaulting introduced by Cistercian Gothic arriving from France. The detached campanile, which gives the complex its distinctive skyline, was added in the 15th century. Designated an Italian national monument, Sant'Andrea remains a key reference point for scholars of medieval architecture across the peninsula.