Santa Maria di Piazza, Busto Arsizio

The Santuario di Santa Maria di Piazza is located in the historic center of Busto Arsizio, Italy, where an earlier church dedicated to the Virgin Mary stood, which in turn had replaced a chapel dating back to the time of Christianization. This Marian shrine was quickly built between 1515 and 1522.

Two names appear in the documents dealing with the construction of the temple: that of Antonio da Lonate and that of "magistro Tomaxio ingeniero", probably Tommaso Rodari, the well-known sculptor and architect active in the Como cathedral, a pupil of Giovanni Antonio Amadeo. Antonio da Lonate set the central plan, for which a Bramantesque design, "Bramanti secutus exemplar" has been speculated; the latter would have executed the two portals to the west and south, and perhaps the elegant loggia in the tambour under the dome similar to the tiburium of the sanctuary of the Beata Vergine dei Miracoli at Saronno, which is attributed to Amadeo.