The idea of building a new temple for Magenta was put forward by Don Cesare Tragella (provost vicar forane of the town from 1885 to 1910) to fulfill two duties: the need to give the continuously growing citizens a new temple and commemoration of those killed in the glorious battle of 4 June 1859, whose success still actively involved the people of Magento.
The project of the church, dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours and Saint Joachim, was entrusted to the architect Alfonso Parrocchetti who made it a neo-Renaissance work, set on a wider central nave and two narrower and lower side naves, with a length of 87 metres, a transept length of 30 meters and the height of the dome of 57 metres, dimensions which make it the largest in the diocese after the cathedral of Milan.
The first stone was laid in 1893 and, having overcome the technical and economic difficulties thanks to the free labor provided by the parishioners, the construction work on the structure was completed in 1901, allowing the celebration of the first mass on an improvised altar. The monumental work was consecrated on 24 October 1903 by Cardinal Andrea Ferrari who, however, prohibited the transport of the bones of those killed in the battle inside the church, thus eliminating one of the main reasons that had led to the construction of the structure.
The architectural complex was equipped with a 69 meter high bell tower also in Italian neo-Renaissance style, the work of Benedetti for the artistic part and the engineer Monti for the structural part, inaugurated on 15 November 1913 by the Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Andrea Ferrari .
The construction work on the facade, designed by the architect Mariani, began in 1932 and ended only in 1959 due to the economic difficulties resulting from the lack of funds and the war events. The façade was inaugurated on 4 June of the same year by the archbishop of Milan Giovanni Battista Montini (future Pope Paul VI); on March 3, 1948, ecclesiastical recognition arrived from Pope Pius XII with the elevation of the church to a minor Roman basilica.[1]
In this church, in 1955, the wedding between Saint Gianna Beretta Molla and her husband Pietro took place.
On 30 September 2012, Cardinal Angelo Scola celebrated a mass with the entire deanery of Magenta, on the occasion of the commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the birth of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla
Source: Wikipedia