Taking the opportunity of the “International day of the Tour Guides” we visited the church of Saint Ignatius.
Once the church was part a great complex including a Jesuit college and now transformed in a care-home.

The Baroque church was plastered and frescoed by Domenico Dossa and Bernardo Barca; other frescoes are attributed to Giovanni Evangelista Draghi who created also the six oil paintings inserted in stucco frames.

The visit was interesting but also depressing because of the bad conditions of the building.
Here a remark is needed even if it will be not considered by the relevant authorities: we must wisely invest in the restoration of our artistic heritage so creating richness and jobs with the renewals and with the increasing of the flow of tourism, avoiding investing in useless white elephants.

We thank Mrs. Elena Bonilauri and Mr. Cristiano Dotti for the exhausting explanations during the visit.

A short history:
in 1613, under the Pallavicino domination, the first Jesuits arrived in the town.
In 1617, due to a relevant legacy by Pietro Pettorelli, the Jesuit college and the church were expanded.
In 1768 Ferdinand of the House of Bourbon expelled the Jesuit from the Ducky of Parma and the college was used part as hospital and part as public school, frequented also by the young Giuseppe Verdi.

For more info:
There is little info about it in the web.
If you would like to know more, you could contact the parish of Busseto
busseto.parrocchia@virgilio.it.