A detail of the "Frieze of Prophecies" in the central nave

The central nave is embellished by the Frieze of Prophecies, done by Correggio with the probable help of Francesco Maria Rondani. The artist’s pictorial excursus in the temple, by virtue of the strong cassinese inspiration, seems to interpret Augustine’s warning of the second coming of Christ and the unification of the earthly city with the celestial one, whose hinges culminate in the appearance of Christ, the"Ascenso" declares Correggio, to the Evangelist in the dome, and in the fusion of pagan celebrations with Christian ones, transcribed in the Frieze of Prophecies that runs along the central nave; a vademecum for the faithful at the entrance of the church to illustrate the meaning of the entire pictorial structure, inspired by the thought of Augustine. In the decorative circuit, the theological message seems to transfer, with the intense exchange of glances between the Prophet Isaiah, brought back a new life thanks to the recently completed restoration (Castrichini, autumn 2020) in the first bay on the right of the frieze (with the inscription "principium et finis ”in the marble slab that he exhibits) and the young Evangelist in the lunette above the door, in Saint John crouched in the extreme edge of the dome.