Hebrew-English Guide to Soncino

41 THE CHURCHES SAINT JAMES The church was built in the XIV century on the same site of an oldest “Xenodochium”, a pilgrim hospice, whose existence was documented in the half of the XII century. The old hospice continued to work until 1361 when the church be- came property of the Augustinians who built the bell tower, with its heptagonal shape, with seven sides, marked by windows with one light and terracotta decorations. The construction of the church had a new impulse with the arri- val of the Dominicans in 1428. Between 1456 and 1468, under the project of the Dominican Maffeo Caleppio, the cloister was built. The apse area was rebuilt with a crypt and a raised presbytery. In 1510 the church was extended with the addition of a bay. At the end of the XVI century the old ceiling, made of wooden trus- ses, was replaced by brickwork vaults and the church gained the current design. In 1630 the side chapels were built. The XVII century renewal inte- rested also the front and the inside part which is in Baroque shapes.