San Barnaba, Brescia
San Barnaba is a deconsecrated Baroque-style, Roman Catholic church, located on Corso Magenta #44, near Piazzale Arnaldo, in Brescia, region of Lombardy, Italy. The church in the 20th century became an auditorium (Auditorium San Barnaba) and conference hall, and home of the Conservatorio Luca Marenzio. History. The church was originally built in 1299 under the patronage of the Bishop Berardo Maggi. It is said the church was erected atop a pagan temple to Hercules. By 1302 it was affiliated with an Augustinian order convent. The Augustinians were expelled from Brescia in 1457, and replaced by a  Comunità dell’Osservanza di Lombardia, which in 1490 performs reconstructions including adding an adjacent library, where Giovanni Pietro da Cemmo frescoed the "Life of St Augustine" on the ceiling. Angela Merici, later canonized as saint, who lived in the neighborhood attended mass frequently in this church. It is said that while praying during the blessing of the eucharist in this church, she would experience levitation. Interiors. The present church was rebuilt starting in 1623. The order affiliated with the convent was expelled in 1797. An inventory from 1823 of the church, noted the following works remained: By Paolo Brognoli San Barnaba