The church of San Michele Maggiore is the most interesting building in Pavia for those who are interested in political history. The church was closely associated with the Longobard Kingdom (568-774) and its successor, the Kingdom of Italy, which in the tenth century became part of the Holy Roman Empire.…
Although we had parked our car fairly close by, we had to take a rather long detour to reach the fascinating church of San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro. The church stands somewhat isolated, perhaps a consequence of the fact that it was originally situated outside the walls of Pavia. Three…
The national archaeological museum in Cividale del Friuli has a very long history. It was founded in 1817, and at the end of the nineteenth century it was housed in the Palazzo de Nordis, a nice palazzo from the fifteenth century just north of the Duomo of the town. Nowadays…
Twenty years ago, on 30 October 2002, the ‘House of the stone carpets’ in Ravenna opened its doors. The founding of a museum on this spot was more or less a coincidence. During excavations at a courtyard in 1993-1994, which had been launched prior to the construction of an underground…
In 2018 the Classis Ravenna museum opened its doors in an old sugar factory (zuccherificio). The factory had been closed down in 1982 and was now given a second life. As the Italian name of the museum – Museo della Città e del Territorio – suggests, Classis Ravenna tells the…
The complesso di Santo Stefano is a very special complex of churches, chapels, a courtyard and a cloister. Although the complex adjoins the Piazza Santo Stefano and a street named the Via Santo Stefano runs alongside the buildings towards the Porta Santo Stefano, the complex rather surprisingly does not have…
The beautiful abbey church of San Bartolomeo in Pantano was founded around 760, in the late Longobard era (568-774). The monks that settled here followed the rule of the Irish Saint Columbanus (ca. 540-615). Columbanus had travelled to Longobard Italy and had founded a famous abbey at Bobbio just before…
The church of San Giovanni Fuorcivitas, dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist, is a very special edifice. The long side of the building, i.e. the northern side wall, basically serves as the façade of the church while the real façade is hidden away in a narrow alley. And the pseudo-façade…
Whether this is a standard arrangement or not I do not know, but in August of 2020 the beautiful octagonal baptistery of Pistoia could be visited for free. The edifice stands opposite the cathedral of the city and inside one can book guided tours for the bell-tower of the Duomo…
It must have been one of the most beautiful buildings in Colonia Civica Augusta Brixia: the Capitolium of the town, i.e. the temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva on the northern side of the Roman forum. When the first excavations were launched at this spot in 1823, only one column…
As Brescia’s municipal museum, the Museo di Santa Giulia is all about the city’s own history. In part 4 of this series about the museum, I will take stock of several museum objects and use them to discuss the history of Brescia. Brescia in Antiquity is the main subject of…
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…
We left the church of the Most Sacred Body of Christ and followed a path leading up the slope of the Colle Cidneo. After less than 300 metres, we had already reached the next church that was on our list, that of San Pietro in Oliveto, or Saint Peter in…
No one knows when exactly this lovely little temple on the river Clitunno was built. One thing is certain though: it is not really a little temple. The Tempietto is and has always been a Christian edifice, probably a church (there is an altar), but perhaps a mausoleum as well.…
I do not usually discuss a museum and a church in one post, but in this case the church is actually part of the museum. The church of Sant’Eufemia cannot even be visited separately; it can only be entered from the museum and potential visitors therefore have to buy a…
Our visit to Spoleto started at the church of San Ponziano, which is located on the slope of the Colle Ciciano, northeast of the historical city centre. It is dedicated to Pontianus of Spoleto, a young man who was said to have been martyred during the reign of the Roman…
Grado today is a lovely seaside resort which draws scores of tourists to its wonderful beaches. Ancient Grado used to be the port of Aquileia, some ten kilometres to the north. In Antiquity, it was known as Ad Aquas Gradatas, which was shortened to Gradus during the Middle Ages. Here,…
Modern Aquileia is just a small and pleasant town of some 3.500 inhabitants in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region of Northeast Italy. Ancient Aquileia, however, was a large and prosperous city with a population that is estimated to have exceeded 100.000 souls. Founded in the year 181 BCE, Aquileia occupied…
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…