Authors: Sebastiano Mariani (facade renovation); Giovanni Buora (statues)
Century: 16th
Materials: Brick, marble
At the beginning of the 16th century, the Gothic facade was completely renovated in the Renaissance style, probably based on the design by Sebastiano Mariani: the facade still appears today divided into three parts by double-order Istrian stone pilasters. It is horizontally emphasized by a wide string course on which the side segmental pediments rest, and above the central drum, the semicircular crowning. The marble decoration, consisting of Istrian stone pilasters and cornices, is extremely simple and linear. Today, due to the complete fall of the original plaster (possibly glossy white marmorino), it frames the exposed brick surface. A new and different circular window was created in the center of the upper tympanum, distinguished by a multiple-star radiating marble septum. Around 1740, an octagonal window was opened in the central space of the intermediate order, while the two pre-existing side windows were completely closed. The five crowning statues in Istrian stone, resting on the level of the terminal capitals of the pilasters and at the peak of the central tympanum, have been attributed to Giovanni Buora. Life-size and well-sculpted according to the realistic canons of the new style, these statues represent the most important and significant figures of Carmelite devotion: in the lower first order, on the left Eliseus and on the right Elijah, saints and prophets, hermits of Mount Carmel; in the upper second order, the Archangel Gabriel and the Annunciation; and above all, at the top, the blessing Eternal Father holding a crusader globe in his hand. The linteled portal, installed towards the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, replacing the original Gothic one, consists of a double tympanum, expressing a substantial mannerism through the use of a lowered circular arch, interrupted and surmounted by a second triangular tympanum, concluded by a vase. Within the inner space of this last structure, there is a shell-shaped niche that houses the full-round statue of the standing Madonna with the Child on her left arm. On the facade, in 1855, the two side windows were opened to increase the light inside the church.
