Basilica di Santo Stefano ★★

This remarkable assemblage of hallowed buildings incorporates seven separate churches and chapels dating variously from the 5th to the 13th centuries.

A walk through the complex provides a remarkable overview of the history of Bologna. The first church you enter is the Crocifisso, begun in the 11th century (as you enter, notice the pulpit built into the facade). San Petronio, Bologna's patron saint, lies in the church to the left––the most charming in the group––the 12th-century San Sepolcro, a polygon modeled after the church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. According to legend, the basin in the courtyard is the one in which Pontius Pilate absolved himself after condemning Christ to death (in truth, it's an 8th-c. Lombard piece). The oldest church is the 5th-century Santi Vitale e Agricola, incorporating fragments of a Roman temple to Isis; Charlemagne allegedly worshiped here in the 8th century. Just beyond is the 13th-century Trinità and the complex's 11th-century cloisters, where plaques honor Bologna's war dead. A small museum/gift shop opens off the back, containing some unmemorable paintings and frescoes spanning the 13th to the 18th centuries. And out here you’ll find yet another church: the tiny Cappella della Benda.

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