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Basilica dei Santi Cosma e Damiano

Basilica dei Santi Cosma e Damiano

Roma, IT

Santi Cosma e Damiano is one of the oldest churches in Europe. Erected in the 6th century on the remains of a Roman temple, still visible today, the apse of the basilica has preserved mosaics of the time.

Basilica dei Santi Gervasio e Protasio

Basilica dei Santi Gervasio e Protasio

Rapallo, IT

The Collegiate Basilica of Saints Gervasius and Protasius was first consecrated in 1118 by Pope Gelasius II during his visit to France. Restoration and transformation work began in 1606 and was completed on 2 June 1628, after twelve years of work, preserving the four-aisle structure. Further work was carried out in 1679 to allow for the construction of a new apse, which resulted in the cancellation of the earlier Gothic-Romanesque architectural aspect, taking on its present 18th-century appearance. Further substantial changes were made in the second half of the 19th century with the reconstruction of the interior and the new neoclassical façade by the architect Gio Batta Olivieri between 1852 and 1856.

Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo

Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo

Venezia, IT

The Basilica of Saints John and Paul, known as San Zanipolo, a Venetian contraction of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, is one of the most imposing medieval religious buildings in Venice. It is considered the Pantheon of Venice because of the large number of doges and other important people who were buried there from the 13th century onwards. According to legend, the origins of the basilica are linked to a vision of the doge Jacopo Tiepolo who, after dreaming of a flight of doves over a marshy area, donated it in 1234 to the Dominicans, who had been present in the city for more than ten years. The church was immediately built. The work was completed in 1343, but the embellishment work lasted almost a century longer: on 14 November 1430, the church was solemnly consecrated.

Basilica dei Santi Maria e Donato

Basilica dei Santi Maria e Donato

Venezia, IT

The Basilica of Santi Maria e Donato was founded in the 7th century. The church is a masterpiece of Venetian-Byzantine art, known for three things: its magnificent chevet, the mosaic of its semi-dome apse depicting the Orante Virgin (11th century), and above all its exceptional mosaic pavement reminiscent of that of the Basilica of San Marco in Venice (11th-15th centuries).

Basilica dei Santi XII Apostoli

Basilica dei Santi XII Apostoli

Roma, IT

The Basilica of the Holy Apostles was first built in the 4th century by Pope Julius I (337-352). The present church, however, was built from the 14th century onwards, as the old Basilica of the Holy Apostles was destroyed by an earthquake in 1348 and abandoned. The façade was built at the end of the 15th century by Baccio Pontelli. The frescoes were painted by Melozzo of Forlì, whose murals of the Holy Apostles are renowned for their innovative perspective techniques and are considered his masterpiece. Today, the basilica is under the responsibility of the Franciscan conventual order, whose headquarters are in Rome in an adjacent building.

Basilica del Redentore

Basilica del Redentore

Venezia, IT

The Church of the Redeemer was designed and begun in 1577 by the architect Andrea Palladio and completed by Antonio da Ponte in 1592. The construction of the church followed the plague epidemic that struck Venice from 1575 onwards and decimated almost one in three Venetians. In September 1576, when the disease seemed unstoppable, the Senate asked for divine help by vowing to build a new church dedicated to Jesus the Redeemer. The Feast of the Redeemer is a festival held annually in Venice on the third Saturday and Sunday of July to commemorate the end of the great plague epidemic of 1575-1576.

Basilica del Sacro Cuore di Gesù

Basilica del Sacro Cuore di Gesù

Roma, IT

The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was built between 1870 and 1887, according to the plans of the architect Francesco Vespignani. The church was commissioned by Pope Pius IX (1846-1878), but due to the annexation of Rome to the Kingdom of Italy, work was interrupted. It was only thanks to the tenacity of the priest John Bosco that construction was resumed in 1880 and completed in 1887.

Basilica del Santo Sepolcro

Basilica del Santo Sepolcro

Barletta, IT

The Collegiate Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre was first mentioned in 1130, at a time when the old pilgrims' hospital, dating from the late 11th to early 12th centuries, was attached to the church. In 1291, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Randulphus, brought back from Jerusalem a fragment of the real wood of the Cross of Christ, which has been particularly venerated in the Church of the Sepulchre ever since. In 1456, an earthquake caused severe damage to the bell tower in the northwestern wing of the church. In 1556, the priory of the church was entrusted to the Knights of the Order of Malta, who took possession of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, until their abolition in 1799. Between 1968 and 1972, the entire building underwent a complex restoration.

Basilica della Madonna dell'Umiltà

Basilica della Madonna dell'Umiltà

Pistoia, IT

The presence of the Basilica of Our Lady of Humility is already attested in ecclesiastical documents dating back to the 13th century and its existence is presumed to have been between the 7th and 11th centuries. Its architectural importance is due to the dome designed by Giorgio Vasari (16th century), 59 metres high. Giovanni Domenico Ferretti painted frescoes in it during his stay in Pistoia from 1720 to 17251.

Basilica della Santissima Annunziata

Basilica della Santissima Annunziata

Florence, IT

Santissima Annunziata is the founding and monastic church of the Servite Order. The church was built in the 13th century and was rebuilt in its current form in the first half of the 15th century.

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