The Basilica of Sant'Antonino is a medieval

Roman Catholic 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 lette ...

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 ...

in the city of

Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. it is dedicated to the patron saint of the city, Antoninus. The original church of Sant'Antonio was an

early Christian Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish d ...

martyrium A martyrium (Latin) or martyrion (Greek), plural ''martyria'', sometimes anglicized martyry (pl. martyries), is a church or shrine built over the tomb of a Christian martyr. It is associated with a specific architectural form, centered on a cent ...

.. The present building was the work of Bishop Sigifredo, who dedicated it in 1014 as a

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons: a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a ...

. He chose the form of a oriented basilica with a western

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 ...

and a

campanile A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

. The interior was decorated with early Romanesque painting, a little of which survives. The basilica on pilgrimage routes was designed by Pietro Vago in 1350. In 1998, a large statue of

Gregory X Pope Gregory X ( la, Gregorius X; – 10 January 1276), born Teobaldo Visconti, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1 September 1271 to his death and was a member of the Secular Franciscan Order. He was ...

, sculpted by Giorgio Groppi, was placed under the large ''Portico of Paradise''. The Portico was itself completed in the 12th century with carvings by the school of Niccolò da Ferrara. The church has been rebuilt and modified across the century. The carved wood ceiling was substituted by

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

tracery. In the 19th century pseudo-gothic decoration was added to the interior. The adjacent cloister dates to 1483. The interior of the church contains frescoes by Camillo Gavasetti in the presbytery, and canvases by

Robert de Longe Robert de Longe (Brussels, 1646 – Piacenza, 1709) was a painter born in present-day Belgium, but active in Northern Italy including Cremona and Piacenza. Biography He is one of many painters known in Italy as ''il Fiammingo'' (the Flemish). De ...

. Many of the works have been transferred to the Civic Gallery. Among the works retained is a "Coronation of the Virgin" by Gian Battista Trotti (il Malosso).Comune of Piacenza
, entry on church.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antonino, Piacenza Roman Catholic churches in Piacenza 14th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Gothic architecture in Emilia-Romagna Romanesque architecture in Piacenza Basilica churches in Emilia-Romagna