Basilica of San Saturnino, Cagliari

The Basilica of San Saturnino is a Palaeo-Christian church in Cagliari, southern Sardinia, Italy. The church is located within a walled area including a Palaeo-Christian necropolis, which is still being excavated. Today only part of the original basilica, which was on the Greek cross plan with a transept and a semi-spherical dome; all the four arms had a nave and two aisles. The current church consists of the dome-covered area (dating to the 5th-6th centuries) and the eastern arm, with a nave and two aisles, which ends with a semicircular apse. The western façade, partly ruined, is divided into three sectors. The side ones have portals with architraves, surmounted by round lunettes. The current church's entrance is in the area of the former western arm, and features modern additions from the 20th century restoration. The eastern arm is externally decorated with Lombard bands, while the apse has lost the original cover with limestone from Bonaria. The arm has a nave and two aisles, the former with barrel vault, the latter with cross vaults.

Faith and mystery seep from its pure white stones, that cry out the tragic story of the young Saturnino (Saturno in some sources), who was decapitated in 304 AD for refusing to deny his Christian faith. The basilica where the martyr, who is the patron saint of Cagliari, was buried still has its original appearance of a martyrium. This is the oldest church in the capital, built in Byzantine-Proto-Romanic style between the 5th and 6th century: together with the necropolis on which it was built, it is one of the most important paleo-Christian complexes in the Mediterranean. Excavations have found Roman and Byzantine burials, and you'll be amazed by the size of the cemetery. The ancient building is laid out in the form of a Greek cross, with four equal-length arms and a central body topped with a dome, which remains intact together with the remains of the apse. After sinking into the quiet inside, you can admire the finesse of the external decorations on the central nave, along with the only remaining Romanic door on the eastern wing, with a late-Romanic arch.

One of the oldest churches in Sardinia, the Basilica di San Saturnino is a striking example of Paleo-Christian architecture. Based on a Greek-cross pattern, the domed basilica was built over a Roman necropolis in the 5th century, on the site where Saturninus, a much-revered local martyr, was buried. According to legend, Saturninus was beheaded in AD 304 during emperor Diocletian’s anti-Christian pogroms. In the 6th century San Fulgenzio da Ruspe, a bishop in exile from Tunisia, built a monastery here. In 1098 this was reworked into the current Romanesque church by a group of Vittorini monks from Marseille. Since then the basilica has undergone various refurbishments, most notably after it was stripped in 1662 to provide building material for the Cattedrale di Santa Maria and, more recently, after it sustained severe bomb damage in WWII.

Paleochristian complex dating back to the 5th century, which includes the Byzantine-Protoromanesque church (also called Church of SS. Cosma e Damiano) and the Christian necropolis, in which many Byzantine and Roman Age remains were found. Risen up as Martyrium for the martyr Saturnino, the church was donated to Vittorini monks from Marsiglia, who founded a priorate and renovated the church in Romanic Provençal style. In the first part of the 14th century, during the Catalans siege, the cloister was seriously damaged, tumbling down a century later. The church was restored again in 1484. Approximately in 1614 began the excavations to find the so called " holy corpses", that is to say martyrs' relics or something supposed to be that, while in 1669, the church was demolished in part, to extract useful materials for the restoration of the Cathedral. In 1714, the chuch was given to the corporation of Medici ad Speziali who dedicated it to their protectors, the Saints Cosma and Damiano. The church was seriously damaged during the bombing in 1943, and, after several restauration woks, it was opened again to the ritual in 1996. ***PH***