The Basilica of Sant'Alessandro is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

church in

Fiesole Fiesole () is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a scenic height above Florence, 5 km (3 miles) northeast of that city. It has structures dating to Etruscan and Roman times. Sin ...

, Italy. Built in the 6th century on the site of an

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *The Etruscan language, an extinct language in ancient Italy *Something derived from or related to the Etruscan civilization **Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities **Etruscan ...

temple, it is the oldest church in Fiesole. The neoclassical façade was added in the early 19th century, while the interior remains largely preserved in its original design.

History

Sant'Alessandro was built on the site of an

temple, near the top of the highest point in

. It was likely commissioned by King Theodoric the Great in the 6th century, making it the oldest church in Fiesole. The church was originally named (Saint Peter in Jerusalem), until the year 823, when it was renamed for Saint Alessandro, a former

Bishop of Fiesole The Diocese of Fiesole ( la, Dioecesis Fesulana) is a Roman Catholic diocese in Tuscany, central Italy, whose episcopal see is the city of Fiesole. Fiesole was directly subject to the pope until 1420, when the archdiocese of Florence was created a ...

, who was martyred in the River Reno near

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

in AD 590. Alessandro's remains were returned to Fiesole, where they were interred behind the altar of the church. Today, the church is only used as an exhibition venue.

Architecture

Little remains of the church's original exterior, due to extensive reconstruction over the centuries, beginning in the 11th century, and occurring again in 1570 and 1782. From 1815 to 1819, the original façade was replaced by the current neoclassical façade, designed by Giuseppe Del Rosso. From 1956 to 1973, an extensive restoration was undertaken to revive many of the church's original elements. Several of the later restorations uncovered Etruscan remains beneath the

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

, as well as other archeological discoveries dating to the Etruscan,

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

, and Lombard periods. The interior of the church is better-preserved. It retains the ancient

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

floor plan, with three naves. The central

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

is twice the width of the side aisles, and is flanked on either side by a row of eight columns, of which 15 are made of

cipollino marble Cipollino marble ("onion-stone") was a variety of marble used by the ancient Greeks and Romans, whose Latin term for it was ''marmor carystium'' (meaning "marble from Karystos"). It was quarried in several locations on the south-west coast of the ...

. They are topped by ionic

capitals Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

that were repurposed from other ancient Roman buildings in the town. On the left side of the nave is a chapel decorated with

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

frescoes, and a 16th century

panel Panel may refer to: Arts and media Visual arts * Panel (comics), a single image in a comic book, comic strip or cartoon; also, a comic strip containing one such image *Panel painting, in art, either one element of a multi-element piece of art ...

by Gerino di Pistoia.

References

Citations

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sant'Alessandro, Basilica Of Basilica churches in Tuscany 6th-century churches Buildings and structures in Fiesole