Santa Maria delle Grazie


Soncino's most impressive church is outside the old centre, about a 12-minute walk (1km) from the Rocca Sforzesca. The plain brick facade hides a fabulous interior, with vibrant frescoes covering every square centimetre of surface.

The Renaissance painters seemed to have enjoyed rather lurid topics, with various tortured martyrs depicted (including a decapitated John the Baptist), and one wall (over the entrance) showing the heathen being bloodied by devils while forced into a fiery monster's mouth on Judgement Day.