The apparently disparate façade of the church (1716-1737) dedicated to St Charles Borromeo, the Milan bishop who fought the plague, can be disconcerting. It is said that the architect, Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, came up with the idea on Pincian hill, in Rome, when looking down on Trajan's Column, the portico of the Pantheon and the dome of St Peter's Basilica. Inside, the apotheosis of the saint is illustrated by sumptuous frescoes in the vast dome.