The basilica of sant'ambrogio

The Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio (basilega de Sant Ambroeus in the Milanese dialect), whose full name is minor Roman basilica collegiate abbey prepositural of Sant'Ambrogio (original paleochristian name basilica martyrum), is one of the oldest churches in Milan. It is located in Piazza Sant'Ambrogio and represents not only a monument of the Paleochristian and Romanesque era, but also a fundamental point of Milanese history and of the Ambrosian Church. It is traditionally considered the second most important church in the city after the Milan Cathedral. Together with the basilica prophetarum, the basilica apostolorum and the basilica virginum, the basilica martyrum is counted among the four Ambrosian basilicas, that is, those built by Saint Ambrose. Built between 379 and 386 in the late imperial Roman period at the behest of the bishop of Milan Ambrose, at the time when the Roman city of Mediolanum (modern Milan) was the capital of the Western Roman Empire (a role it held from 286 to 402), was almost totally rebuilt, assuming its final appearance between 1088 and 1099.