How many years have we been working in San Michele Maggiore in Pavia,  one of the oldest and richest 
basilicas in Northern Italy?
It was in the 2001 when we took part in the restoration of the transept and the recovery of a fresco 
from the Visconti era (XV Century). 
At the time, REA did not yet exist, but we worked as employees in another company in the area,which 
unfortunately is no longer active today.

In twenty years we have been on many scaffoldings, but there is hardly a work comparable to the 
recovery of the frescoes of the Presbytery and of the fourth bay of the Basilica of San Michele. 

There was no trace of frescoes on the presbytery before the work, and nothing suggested that we 
would ever find them.

On the fourth span there was a painting, the Coronation of Barbarossa, and nothing around. 
Honestly everyone called the painting Barbarossa, as it was placed right above the stone where, 
by tradition, Frederick Barbarossa was crowned emperor in 1155.

Before the restoration work, which began in June last year, the vaults of the Presbytery and 
the spans were dark gray. We never could never expect to find figures under the plaster layers 
of the Presbytery and other decorations under the fourth span. 
Yet, the complex and long works brought to light the faces of three of the Doctors of the Church 
under the plaster of the Presbytery and colorful decorations under the fourth span. 
Not enough, an insidious cartouche reveals that the protagonist of the coronation is not Barbarossa, 
but the emperor Constantine. And this also changes the name of the painting! 

Of Lombard foundation, the church of San Michele di Pavia was probably erected on the area of ​​a 
previous pagan building converted by Constantine into a Christian church. 

Could be the reason of the dedication on the vaults??