The church of San Teodoro is dedicated to Saint Theodorus of Pavia, who between ca. 740 and 778 served as bishop of Pavia. The history of the church goes back to the eighth century. Originally it was dedicated to Saint Agnes of Rome, who according to tradition was martyred in…
The famous Romanesque church of San Zeno is located quite far outside Verona’s city centre. There is a sound historical explanation for this. In Antiquity there was a Roman cemetery here, where somewhere between 372 and 380 the eighth bishop of the city was buried. Little is certain about the…
The large church of San Giovanni in Canale can be found near the edge of Piacenza’s city centre. The San Giovanni was the church of the Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominicans. Many Dominican churches are dedicated to Saint Dominicus de Guzmán, the Spanish founder of the order.…
It is a five-minute walk from the church of San Severo to the minuscule church of San Zeno, a true gem just outside the centre of Bardolino. You are unlikely to encounter many other visitors here. According to my travel guide, the San Zeno is among the oldest churches in…
The Museo di Santa Giulia is Brescia’s municipal museum. It can be found in the enormous monastic complex of San Salvatore-Santa Giulia, which in 2011 was added to UNESCO’s list of world heritage as one of the seven Longobard Places of Power.[1] It should not come as a surprise that…
Just a stone’s throw away from the cathedral of San Giovanni in Laterano, one can find one of the most curious pieces of architecture in the streets of Rome. The Triclinium Leoninum consists of a brick aedicule with an apse and a colourful apse mosaic. At first glance, the mosaic…
The Santi Apostoli is one of the oldest churches in Florence, but it is not as old as some Florentines zealously believe it to be. It is located in the Piazza del Limbo. “Limbo” is a slightly denigrating term for someone from the Dutch province of Limburg, so on my…
The San Lorenzo is one of the oldest churches in Milan, and certainly one of the most interesting. It is a centrally planned church, and has often been compared to the San Vitale in Ravenna because of its shape. It is more than a century older though. It pays to…