Ludovico III Gonzaga commissioned the basilica from Leon Battista Alberti, and work began in 1472 on the site of a Benedictine monastery. The article calls it one of the major works of 15th-century Renaissance architecture in Northern Italy. The main design phase ended around 1494. The lateral arms and crypt were finished in 1597, and Filippo Juvarra designed the massive dome, built from 1732 to 1782.
The building is largely brick, with a hardened stucco facade. The facade is based on the ancient Arch of Trajan at Ancona, and it abuts a bell tower of 1414. The nave has a barrel vault, probably modeled on the Basilica of Maxentius. Chapels branch off it in place of aisles, and lack of funds meant painted coffers rather than real ones.
The infobox gives completion as 1790, but the text implies 1800. The article gives no dimensions.
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