The Basilica di Santa Maria di Campagna is a Renaissance church on the western edge of the historic centre, built between 1522 and 1528 to a design by Alessio Tramello. The exterior is graceful and well-preserved; the interior is a centrally planned space with a central dome surrounded by four smaller chapels. The dome is the reason to come: it was painted by the Pordenone (Giovanni Antonio de' Sacchis) between 1530 and 1535 with a spectacular fresco cycle showing God the Father surrounded by prophets, sibyls, saints, and angels.
The quality of the fresco is exceptional — Pordenone was one of the most gifted fresco painters in northern Italy, and the dome here shows him at full stretch. The figures are powerfully foreshortened and the spatial illusionism of the composition is comparable to Correggio's better-known domes in Parma. The church is usually quiet and the dome is well lit; you can lie on the benches provided to look up at it properly. This is one of the genuinely underrated Renaissance frescoes in Italy.