San Sisto, Piacenza

The church and an adjacent convent and hospital were founded in 874 by Queen Angilberga, wife of the Emperor Louis II. She had been exiled some years after his death, but in 882, she was allowed to return to Italy, where she became abbess of the Benedictine convent, presumably this one.

The convent became wealthy due to grants of significant privileges and properties in northern Italy. Over the centuries, several orders of monks and nuns competed for control of the convent until 1425, when it was assigned to the Benedictine order of Monte Cassino. In 1499, the convent commissioned the present church building from Alessio Tramello. It was consecrated in 1511.

The Mannerist facade was not competed until 1591.^[1] Asymmetries and odd touches abound. Side doors are smaller than the central one. The entry portal has a broken tympanum holding a central statuary niche within a rounded arch with a central bracket. The ground floor of the facade has half-columns, while the second floor has shorter pilasters topped by smiling gorgon masks that drain rainwater through their mouths. The central rose window is framed in a square, again with a broken tympanum and two central brackets. The facade has three life-sized statues of San Germano, San Sisto, and St. Benedict. San Sisto is the church's namesake, while San Germano and St. Benedict are both associated with Cassino, the location of the first Benedictine monastery. The busts of two female saints, Barbara and Martina, also appear on the façade, above each of the side windows.

The adjacent Renaissance-style convent (1591–1596) is owned by the military and closed to visitors. The cloister has a number of medallions frescoed by Bernardino Zacchetti.