It was consecrated in 1514, but it is thanks to Francesco Vimercati’s interest that the small church dedicated to Santa Barbara was transformed. The outside looks nude and austere, but its inside is interestingly decorated, with one nave and six lateral chapels, three on each side connected to eachother, dedicated to San Francesco, Sant’ Antonio da Padova, San Diego, Santa Maria Maddalena, San Mauro and to Passion, a short transept and a square presbytery with a rectangular choir at the rear. Because of problems concerning numerous passages from public to ecclesiastic property, the church was abandoned for a about two centuries, until when it definitely became property of the parish and between 1985 and 1990 it underwent restoration works, especially in the presbytery and the transept. This is how the church appears today: a XVII century jewel. The decoration was assigned to different famous artists, from the late 1500’s to the early 1700’s. Artists like Cerano, author of the frescoes of the presbytery, depicting Saul’s fall and Saul regains his sight.
The decorations of the triumphal arch and the two lateral chapels dedicated to San Francesco and Sant’Antonio attributed to the Lampugnani brothers date back to the middle XVII century. The rest of the works around the altar belong to the late 1600’s (1670-1680) and they are attributed to Montalto (though there is no official document to confirm such thesis), or to one of his students. But the decorations of the San Bernardino chapel and the Passion of Christ are certainly his, while San Diego is attributed to Giovanni Battista del Sole. But what arises more doubts is the Maddalena Chapel. The altarpiece is most certainly a work of Giovan Battista Costa but what is still unknown is the author of the frescoes. The presbytery and the choir ceiling were decorated by the Nuvolone brothers around 1680. We can easily recognise the touch of Giuseppe who depicted the Trinity, the Assumption and the Supper.