The Basilica di Santo Stefano Maggiore in Milan began around 417, on the initiative of the future bishop Martinianus. It was first dedicated to Saints Zechariah and Stephen, and later to Saint Stephen alone. A fire destroyed it in 1070, and it was rebuilt in the Romanesque style in 1075.
From 1594 onward the church was repeatedly altered. Work enlarged the apse and main altar, lengthened the nave, rebuilt the facade and added a sacristy, and the current listing gives its style as Baroque. Gerolamo Quadrio of Lugano rebuilt the bell tower after it collapsed in 1642.
Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza was assassinated here on December 26, 1476. Caravaggio was baptized here on September 30, 1571. It is an active Roman Catholic church.
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