San Sisto is a Roman Catholic church in

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, located in Centro-Est quartiere of Prè, near the railway station of Genova Piazza Principe.

Background

A Romanesque church was built here from 1088 to 1093 to commemorate a victory on August 6, 1087, by the navies of Genoa and

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

against a raiding Arab fleet; since Pope

Sixtus II Pope Sixtus II (), also written as Pope Xystus II, was bishop of Rome from 31 August 257 until his death on 6 August 258. He was killed along with seven deacons, including Lawrence of Rome, during the persecution of Christians by the Emperor V ...

was honored on that date, the church was dedicated to him. The church belonged to the

Benedictine Order The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly Christian mysticism, contemplative Christian monasticism, monastic Religious order (Catholic), order of the Catholic Church for men and f ...

of monks allied with

Sacra di San Michele The Sacra di San Michele, sometimes known as Saint Michael's Abbey, is a religious complex on Mount Pirchiriano, situated on the south side of the Val di Susa in the territory of the municipality of Sant'Ambrogio di Torino, in the Metropolitan C ...

till 1479, except 1217–1241.

Restored, Razed, Rebuilt

After a restoration in the 18th century, the church was completely razed and rebuilt in 1825, to make way for the road, now ''via

Antonio Gramsci Antonio Francesco Gramsci ( , ; ; 22 January 1891 – 27 April 1937) was an Italian Marxist philosophy, Marxist philosopher, Linguistics, linguist, journalist, writer, and politician. He wrote on philosophy, Political philosophy, political the ...

''. Rebuilt in

Neoclassicism Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative arts, decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiq ...

style in 1827 by designs of Giovanni Battista Resasco and Pietro Pellegrini, the cupola was frescoed by Michel Cesare Danielli. The statue of ''San Sisto'' on the main altar was completed by Giovanni Battista Cevasco and donated to the church by the Marquis Ignazio Alessandro Pallavicini.

References

Bibliography

* Sisto Neoclassical architecture in Liguria 1088 establishments in Europe Roman Catholic churches completed in 1827 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Neoclassical church buildings in Italy {{Liguria-RC-church-stub