Saint George's Basilica is a

Roman Catholic church 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 ...

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

, Italy. It is called in Italian, meaning Saint George's "outside the walls" because it was built outside the city walls, while Saint George's Cathedral was within the city walls. It is the oldest church in the city.

History

The history of the

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 ...

is closely linked with the origins of Ferrara. Between the seventh and eighth centuries, due to continual barbarian invasion that devastated

Voghiera Voghiera ( Ferrarese: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Ferrara in the northeastern Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about northeast of Bologna and about southeast of Ferrara. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population ...

, the bishopric was moved from Voghiera and the location near the

Po river The Po ( , ; la, Padus or ; Ligurian language (ancient), Ancient Ligurian: or ) is the longest river in Italy. It flows eastward across northern Italy starting from the Cottian Alps. The river's length is either or , if the Maira (river), Mair ...

became the first settlement for the town of Ferrara. Soon the town of Ferrara grew larger on the other bank of the Po river and in 1135 the bishop's seat was moved to the

Cathedral of Ferrara Ferrara Cathedral ( it, Basilica Cattedrale di San Giorgio, ''Duomo di Ferrara'') is a Roman Catholic cathedral and minor basilica in Ferrara, Northern Italy. Dedicated to Saint George, the patron saint of the city, it is the seat of the Archbish ...

in the center of the city. The Basilica was completely rebuilt in the fifteenth century by

Biagio Rossetti Biagio Rossetti ( 1447 – 1516) was an Italian architect and urbanist from Ferrara. A military engineer since 1483, and the ducal architect of Ercole I d'Este, in 1492 Rossetti was assigned the project of enlarging the city of Ferrara. Rossett ...

, and in 1581 by Alberto Schiatti and further modified in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.Borgo San Giorgio entry on church.
/ref> The Basilica still stands today.

References

Renaissance architecture in Emilia-Romagna Roman Catholic churches in Ferrara Basilica churches in Emilia-Romagna 15th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy {{italy-RC-church-stub