19 Essential Italian Churches

San Vitale dates from the greatest period in Ravenna’s history, when it played a pivotal role in relations between East and West—Constantinople and Rome. The church reflects these very different cultural influences, particularly in its stunning mosaics, which are generally acknowledged as the finest in the Western world.

Situated in northeastern Italy, Ravenna came to the fore as the Roman Empire crumbled. In 402 Ravenna replaced Rome as the capital of the Western Empire, but by the end of the century the city was in the hands of the Ostrogoths. By 540 the situation had changed again, as the Byzantine emperor Justinian took control and made Ravenna the capital of his imperial rule in Italy. San Vitale was built against the backdrop of these upheavals. It was begun by Bishop Ecclesius in 526, during the Ostrogoth period, and was consecrated in 547, under the new regime. The building was funded privately, by a wealthy banker named Julianus Argentarius, and dedicated to the little-known St. Vitalis.

The church has an unusual octagonal layout, with an outer aisle and galleries. It combines Roman and Byzantine elements, although the influence of the latter is far greater. For this reason, it has been suggested that the plans were produced by a Latin architect who had trained in the East. The mosaics, which consist of biblical scenes and imperial portraits, also have a strong Byzantine flavour. The most famous sections are the two panels showing Justinian and his wife, Theodora, emphasizing the theocratic nature of their rule. Justinian is depicted in the company of 12 attendants—a subtle echo of Jesus Christ and the Apostles—and the royal couple present the vessels that will hold the bread and wine, the symbols of the Eucharist. (Iain Zaczek)

The first and oldest among the great patriarchal basilicas of Rome, St. John Lateran (San Giovanni in Laterano) rests on what used to be the palace of the Laterani family, whose members served as administrators to several emperors. About 311 it came into the emperor Constantine’s hands. He then gave it to the church, and in 313 the church hosted a council of bishops who met to declare the Donatist sect as heretics. From then on, the basilica was the centre of Christian life in the city, the residence of popes, and the cathedral of Rome.

The original church was probably not very large and was dedicated to Christ the Saviour. It has been rededicated twice—once in the 10th century to St. John the Baptist and again in the 12th century to St. John the Evangelist. In popular usage, these subsequent dedications have overtaken the original, though the church remains dedicated to Christ, like all patriarchal cathedrals. In 1309, when the seat of the papacy was moved to Avignon in France, the basilica began to decline. It was ravaged by fires in 1309 and 1361, and, although the structure was rebuilt, the original splendour of the building had been destroyed. Because of this, when the papacy returned to Rome, the Palace of the Vatican was constructed as the new papal seat.

In 1585 Pope Sixtus V ordered the basilica to be torn down and a replacement built—another in a long continuing line of refurbishments and rebuildings of this most important of cathedrals. Despite being bested in architectural terms by St. Peter’s, which holds most papal ceremonies thanks to its size and location within the Vatican’s walls, St. John Lateran remains the cathedral church of Rome and the official ecclesiastical seat of the pope, as bishop of Rome. Indeed, it is regarded by Roman Catholics as the mother church of the entire world. (Robin Elam Musumeci)

In 13th-century Florence the Dominican and Franciscan religious orders grew increasingly powerful and became major rivals. The Franciscans advocated a mystical, personal faith, while the Dominicans were more rational and philosophical. Each order’s churches reflected their rivalry.

The Franciscans built the Basilica of the Holy Cross (Basilica di Santa Croce) on the site of an earlier church—one that had supposedly been founded by St. Francis of Assisi himself. It is a massive building, laid out in a series of simple large rectangular shapes. Originally, the church was quite restrained in its internal and external decoration, but it now contains art by a number of famous painters and sculptors, including Giotto and Donatello.

The church also houses many famous graves, including that of Michelangelo, who, according to legend, wanted his tomb (designed by Giorgio Vasari) placed directly to the right of the church entrance so that the first thing he would see on Judgment Day was the dome of the Duomo through Santa Croce’s doors. Opposite Michelangelo is Galileo, buried there in 1737, 100 years after his death. Niccolò Machiavelli and Lorenzo Ghiberti lie inside the church, as does a tomb built for Dante, whom the Florentines had exiled from the city in 1301. The town of Ravenna, where Dante actually lies, refused to give back his body, so, consequently, the tomb in Santa Croce remains an empty monument to the great poet. (Robin Elam Musumeci)

Legend has it that in the early 9th century, two merchants, named Buono (“Good Man”) of Malamocco and Rustico (“Rustic”) of Torcello, stole the body of St. Mark from Alexandria in Egypt and carried it back to Venice. Rather than presenting their saintly burden to the head of the Venetian church, they gave the body to the head of the Venetian government, the doge, thereby connecting St. Mark forever to the state. The doge ordered the construction of a church to house the saintly remains, which were placed in a temporary shrine within the Doges’ Palace. A church was completed in 832 but was destroyed by fire in a rebellion in 976. It was later rebuilt, forming the basis of the present basilica, which was begun in 1063.

The new church became the official chapel of the doge and, by the 15th century, was joined to the Doges’ Palace. The church is immediately recognizable, with its main and subsidiary domes echoing the well-known form of earlier Byzantine churches and showing influences from Constantine’s Church of the Apostles in Constantinople. A mosaic over the far left portal of the basilica, depicting the interment of St. Mark’s body, gives an astonishingly accurate portrayal of what the church looked like in the 13th century, before the 15th-century addition of elaborate white Gothic cresting. Unlike the cathedrals of Florence and Milan, which at the end of the 13th century still stood open to the sky, St. Mark’s had been structurally complete for many years. Because of this, generations of artists and rulers had already worked a wealth of detail and narrative into the fabric of the church. Designated a cathedral in 1807, St. Mark’s Basilica stands at the head of one of the most famous European squares, presiding over this public and communal space and giving it a sense of religious and civic history rich in legend and glamour. (Robin Elam Musumeci)

The Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe is one of the best-preserved and most important early Christian churches in Italy. Like the church of San Vitale, it was erected with funds provided by the wealthy patron Julianus Argentarius following the commission of Bishop Ursicinus, and it was consecrated in 549 by the archbishop Maximian. Its construction took place during a period of major political upheavals in Europe: the fall of the western half of the Roman Empire in 476; the recapture of Italy from the rule of the occupying Goth tribes, carried out by the Eastern emperor Justinian between 535 and 552; and the Lombard invasion in 568. At that time, Ravenna was the capital town of the peninsula and therefore one of the main cities of Italy.

When it was built, the church stood close to the sea, at the Roman harbour of Classe. Because of subsequent marsh-draining, however, the waters retreated, and this marvelous building now stands proudly in the countryside of Ravenna. The church seems to have been built on the site of an important cemetery, attested by the imposing sarcophagi that are now displayed along the aisles of the church. It is dedicated to Sant’Apollinare, who was the first bishop of Ravenna and who was the first to convert the people of that area to Christianity. His relics were transported from this church to Sant’Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna in 856.

The church, which is constructed in brick, like the remarkable round bell tower next to it that is believed to date back to the 10th century, is divided into three naves by elegant columns of Greek marble. It also boasts impressive early medieval mosaics in the presbytery and in the apse, where the figure of Sant’Apollinare is set out on a mosaic depicting a delicate green meadow. These remarkable mosaics were made by unknown Byzantine artists and are of inestimable value. (Monica Corteletti)

The 13th-century priest St. Francis of Assisi made a huge impact on the medieval church. His decision to renounce his worldly goods and lead a simple life as a wandering preacher earned him immense respect and helped to counter the widely held belief that many priests were overly privileged and clearly corrupt and that the church was more interested in accumulating worldly wealth than in the spiritual well-being of its followers. Francis felt a special kinship with the poor, so it is ironic that he should have been buried in one of Italy’s most sumptuous churches.

Francis was so popular that he was canonized just two years after his death, before he had even received his official funeral. He had hoped to be buried in a pauper’s grave on the Colle del Inferno (Hill of Hell, so called because criminals were executed there), but he could never have envisaged that he would be honoured with an enormous double church—the Basilica di San Francesco. The Lower Basilica was completed in just two years (1228–30), although this speed may have been ill-advised, because the entire structure had to be underpinned in the 1470s. The dating of the Upper Basilica is less clear, but it was certainly completed by 1253 when both churches were consecrated together.

After Francis’s death, his body was held at the church of San Giorgio until it could be interred in the new foundation. Even then, the precise burial place was kept secret for fear that his relics would be stolen—a shocking reminder of the riches that the pilgrimage trade could generate. The saint’s remains were rediscovered only in 1818, when they were installed in a new crypt. The church, meanwhile, was lavishly decorated with frescoes by all the major artists of the day, including Giotto. (Iain Zaczek)

The Church of the Gesù (its full name is the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus) is the mother church of the Jesuits (also known as the Society of Jesus)—a Catholic religious order founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola in the mid-16th century. The church is the model for numerous other Jesuit churches across the world.

After two false starts in 1551 and 1554, because of legal and funding problems, construction of the church was finally begun in 1568, with funding provided by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. The building was designed according to the requirements of the Council of Trent, which had sought to modernize and rationalize Catholicism after the Protestant Reformation had exposed the corrupt practices of the medieval church. As such, there is no narthex (lobby); instead, the entrance leads straight into the body of the church, with attention focused on the high altar.

There are 10 chapels in the church, including one dedicated to St. Ignatius, designed by Andrea Pozzo, which houses the saint’s tomb and a statue of the saint designed by Pierre le Gros the Younger. The interior of the church was originally relatively bare, until Giovanni Battista Gauli was commissioned to paint it; the main feature is the ceiling fresco, The Triumph of the Name of Jesus. The church is also home to the original depiction of Madonna della Strada (Our Lady of the Way), the patroness of the Jesuits. The painting is an anonymous late 15th-century work of the Roman school.

The Church of the Gesù is in many ways the symbol of the Catholic Reformation. It reflected the new trends in the built structure of the church and housed the most well-known order of this new brand of Catholicism, the Jesuits, who grew to be the largest order of the church. (Jacob Field)

The Piazza San Giovanni in Florence is home to three important buildings: the cathedral, the campanile, and the baptistery. The octagonal domed baptistery is covered in eye-catching green and white marble, and its interior is studded with breathtaking mosaics. It is most notable, however, for its three pairs of doors, which were created in the 14th and 15th centuries and decorated with sculptures depicting scenes from the life of the city’s patron saint, St. John the Baptist, and themes of salvation and baptism.

In 1322 the city’s powerful wool merchants, the Calimala Guild, decided that the old wooden east doors should be replaced with bronze. The replacement doors, which have since been repositioned as the south doors, are fine examples of Gothic craftsmanship. They were designed by Andrea Pisano and made by Venetian bronzesmith Leonardo d’Avanzo between 1330 and 1336. The casting involved making wax models that were covered with clay and baked. The wax would melt with the heat, leaving a hollow to be filled with the molten metal. The sculptures were then smoothed and engraved.

The Calimala Guild held a competition to replace Pisano’s east doors. The winner was the young Lorenzo Ghiberti, who beat architect and sculptor Filippo Brunelleschi into second place. Ghiberti’s doors, since moved to become today’s north doors, were made between 1403 and 1424. His work illustrates the shift to a Renaissance style with its use of perspective and dynamic human sculptures.

Today’s east doors, also commissioned by the Calimala Guild, were also made by Ghiberti, from 1425 to 1452. Ghiberti spent most of the rest of his life completing the new east doors. The gilded doors have become known as the Gates of Paradise, a name bestowed by Michelangelo in tribute to their beauty and because they mark the entrance to a place of baptism. (Carol King)

When the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore was built, it was the world’s largest church, able to house 30,000 worshippers and emblematic of Florence’s political and economic dominance.

Building work began on the cathedral in 1296, although it was not consecrated until 1436. Also known as the Duomo, or Florence Cathedral, it is notable for its stained-glass windows; its ornate green, red, and white marble facade; its collection of paintings and statuary by Renaissance masters; and its world-famous dome. The cathedral has also been the seat of the Council of Florence since 1439 and the place where religious reformer and instigator of the Bonfire of the Vanities, Girolamo Savonarola, preached. The cathedral has even witnessed murder. In 1478, as part of the Pazzi conspiracy, Giuliano di Piero de’ Medici, coruler of Florence, was stabbed and killed by men backed by his rivals the archbishop of Pisa and Pope Sixtus IV. His brother and coruler Lorenzo the Magnificent was also stabbed but escaped and later had the archbishop hanged.

The construction of the building—built on the site of the old cathedral of Santa Reparata—was overseen by several architects, beginning with Arnolfo di Cambio. In 1331 an institution was created to supervise the works, and in 1334 painter and architect Giotto was appointed as master builder, assisted by architect Andrea Pisano. After Giotto’s death in 1337, a number of architects took the lead, and plans were made to enlarge the original project and build a dome. In 1418 a competition was held to find a designer for the dome; it was won by sculptor and architect Filippo Brunelleschi. His innovative design was self-supporting, requiring no scaffolding. It was completed in 1436 and remains a masterpiece of ingenuity. (Carol King)

In 1386 work began on an extraordinary Gothic cathedral in central Milan. It was built on a site that had been home to several churches since the 5th century. The huge cathedral—second only to St. Peter’s as the largest church in Italy—shows the influence of northern European architecture on Italy at this period. Several of the architects and masons came from north of the Alps, although others were local men. The building reflects the contemporary tensions between north European Gothic and Italian Renaissance styles.

Construction was sporadic, with the initial work completed by about 1420. More work was begun in the late 15th century and continued for about a century. The 17th and 18th centuries saw even more construction, including the impressive Madonna’s spire. Before Napoleon’s coronation as king of Italy in 1805, he ordered the completion of the facade—work that went on into the 19th and 20th centuries. The architects were careful to respect the building’s Gothic origins.

Any visitor to Milan’s cathedral will be immediately struck by the size of the central nave, whose height is second to that of the choir of Beauvais in France. Other features of interest include the magnificent windows—fine examples of “flowery Gothic”—several altars, and the ornate sarcophagi of the church’s benefactors, including that of Marco Carelli, who donated 35,000 ducats in the 15th century. (Adrian Gilbert)

Monreale’s cathedral is commonly regarded as the most impressive monument left by the Norman kings who once ruled in Sicily. The building is a stunning testament to their sumptuous style and illustrates their attention to detail and ornamentation. Built by William II circa 1170, the building was originally no more than a church. However, Pope Lucius III elevated its status to that of a metropolitan cathedral in 1182, and it became the seat of the metropolitan archbishop of Sicily. Finally, in 1200, the archiepiscopal palace and monastic buildings were finished. When King William began construction of the cathedral, he had a number of objectives. Primarily, he wished to use it to establish himself as sovereign. He also wished to impress on his subjects his power and wealth and to suppress any thoughts of resistance. Finally, William hoped to use the cathedral to establish Roman Catholicism as the official religion of Sicily—an objective that he managed with some success. Irrespective of his motives, William produced an outstanding cathedral, much of which remains today.

The cathedral itself may seem relatively plain from the outside. Nevertheless, the visitor may begin to get some sense of the grandeur that lies inside from the imposing principal doorways. Designed in a curious mixture of Norman, Byzantine, and Arab styles, the doors are made of bronze and covered in rich carvings and coloured inlays. Inside, the structure of the cathedral is built around an impressive central nave and two smaller aisles. The walls are decorated with a cornucopia of meticulous panels and reliefs that depict various scenes from the Old and New testaments. The intricacy of the craftsmanship and the expense of the materials used in the cathedral offer a sense of the personal style and taste of the Norman kings who once held sway in Sicily. (Katarina Horrox)

Located on the Piazza della Rotonda, the Pantheon is remarkable for its dome, which is considered to be one of the greatest feats of Roman architecture—not least because it is still intact after two millennia, despite the building having been erected on marshy ground. Within the Pantheon is a large circular room with a granite and yellow marble floor and a hemispherical dome. The height of the rotunda to the top of the 142-foot (43.3-metre) dome exactly matches its diameter, creating a perfect hemisphere. Natural light enters via a circular opening—known as the Great Eye (Oculus)—at the apex of the dome.

The Pantheon was built about 120 CE by the emperor Hadrian on the site of a temple built by the Roman statesman and general Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa in 27 BCE. Agrippa’s building was destroyed by fire in 80 CE, but his name is written above the entrance of Hadrian’s elegant building, which was innovative in its day and reminiscent of Greek temples. “Pantheon” means “temple of all the gods,” and the building was originally dedicated to the planetary gods worshipped by the ancient Romans. The Byzantine emperor Phocas gave the building to Pope Boniface IV in 609, and it became the Christian church of Santa Maria ad Martyres. A column was erected in the Roman Forum in honour of Phocas’s gift.

Over the centuries, the building was pillaged and damaged, losing its gilded bronze roof tiles when the Byzantine emperor Constans II Pogonatus looted it in 663. Pope Urban VIII removed the bronze ceiling girders on the portico to make cannons for Castel Sant’Angelo as part of his plans to extend the fortifications of the papal fortress. The building has also been used as a tomb and houses two Italian kings as well as Renaissance painters and architects, including Raphael. (Carol King)

Rome may be most famous for the splendour of its imperial past, but it also played a key part in the development of Christianity. From its earliest days, Santa Maria Maggiore has maintained a central role in this process. Its original foundation reflected the growth of the cult of the Virgin Mary, and it has always been closely involved in the day-to-day administration of the Roman Catholic Church.

According to tradition, the church was originally founded about 356, after the Virgin appeared to the pope in a vision. Its precise site was indicated by a miraculous snowfall, occurring at the height of summer. This legend is commemorated each year in a special service, during which a shower of white flower petals is dropped from the dome. The present building dates from the following century (432–440). Its dedication to the Virgin was undoubtedly influenced by a crucial decision at the Council of Ephesus of 431, which confirmed that Mary was the mother of God (and not just Christ’s human aspect). The most important survival from this original building is a unique series of mosaics, executed in the old, imperial style, with the Virgin resembling a Roman empress.

Santa Maria is a basilica—an ancient architectural form that the Romans had used for public buildings and that the early Christians adapted for their churches. It is classified as a major basilica because it was, for centuries, the seat of the patriarch of Antioch—one of the highest-ranking officials in the Roman Catholic Church.

Over the years, there have been many additions. The bell tower is medieval, whereas the elegant facade was designed by Ferdinando Fuga and completed in 1743. There are also two notable chapels, the Sistine Chapel, built for Pope Sixtus V, and the Pauline Chapel, designed for Pope Paul V. (Iain Zaczek)

By the 15th century the city of Siena had ceded its commercial dominance to Florence but had become a major focus of artistic talent, boasting beautiful art and architecture by some of the greatest figures in the Italian art world. Many of these treasures still exist within the walls of the old town, and perhaps the most spectacular is the cathedral—a fine example of Gothic architecture, with a distinctive Tuscan-Italian spin.

The cathedral that stands today is essentially a 13th-century creation, although a Romanesque design was begun in the 12th century. Striped designs in black and white marble are a major feature, cladding various interior columns and walls. The cathedral’s facade, constructed in two main stages starting circa 1284, is particularly striking. Much of this was designed by the great Italian artist Giovanni Pisano, who also contributed expressive sculptural decoration that ranks among the finest on any cathedral facade. Between 1265 and 1268, Giovanni’s father, Nicola, created a richly carved octagonal marble pulpit for the cathedral, acknowledged as one of his best works. Other highlights include a bell tower; a dome topped by an elegant lantern; stunning marble floors with inlays by Domenico Beccafumi, among many others; sculptures by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Michelangelo; a font whose carvings include work by Donatello and Lorenzo Ghiberti; and a stained-glass window based on 13th-century designs by Duccio—one of the earliest examples of Italian stained glass in existence. In the adjoining Piccolomini Library are vividly colored 16th-century frescoes by noted Umbrian artist Pinturicchio.

The cathedral has retained its importance over the years, with artistic additions and restorations made in subsequent centuries, including the bronze door in the facade, which was created in the 1950s. (Ann Kay)

Built between 1473 and 1484 for Pope Sixtus IV, the Sistine Chapel lies within Vatican City. Today it is the private papal chapel and the meeting place of the College of Cardinals when they assemble in conclave to elect a new pope. But what draws visitors in droves are the frescoes of the High Renaissance genius Michelangelo.

The barrel-vaulted ceiling of the chapel represents the apex of Michelangelo’s career, with the nine paintings that make up God’s Creation of the World, God’s Relationship with Mankind, and Mankind’s Fall from God’s Grace (1508–12) covering 8,610 square feet (800 square metres). Michelangelo was commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint the fresco. Completing the task almost single-handedly, because the Florentine craftsmen assigned to help him did not meet his exacting standards, it was a feat of endurance for the artist, painting at a fast rate and working from scaffolding. The result is an unrivaled work of art that reinvented the depiction of the human form with the dynamic style of its more than 300 figures. So arduous was this mammoth undertaking that Michelangelo forswore painting for 23 years until he returned to the chapel to paint The Last Judgment (1535–41) on the wall behind the altar—this time for Pope Clement VII, although it was completed under the patronage of his successor Pope Paul III. The painting proved controversial at the time for its inclusion of naked male bodies, depicted complete with genitalia.

Although somewhat dwarfed by Michelangelo’s masterpieces, the walls of the chapel also contain significant works of art, such as Sandro Botticelli’s The Temptation of Christ (1482) and Domenico Ghirlandaio’s Christ Calling Peter and Andrew to their Apostleship (1483). On special occasions the chapel is also decorated with tapestries created by Raphael. (Carol King)

After St. Paul’s martyrdom about 62 CE, his followers built a shrine over his grave. In 324 Constantine ordered a small church to be built on the spot, but in 386 Theodosius demolished this church and began the construction of a much larger and more beautiful basilica. This was consecrated in 390, although the work was not completed until some 50 years later. St. Paul Outside the Walls (the name refers to its location outside the main city walls) is considered to be one of the five great ancient basilicas of Rome.

In 1823 a devastating fire destroyed the basilica. This was an appalling loss because, of all the Roman churches, this one had maintained its primitive character for 1,435 years. To restore the basilica, the viceroy of Egypt contributed alabaster pillars and the emperor of Russia sent costly lapis lazuli and malachite for the mosaics. A chronicle of the Benedictine monastery attached to the church mentions that, during the rebuilding, a large marble sarcophagus was found with the words “Paolo Apostolo Mart(yri)” (“To Paul the Apostle and Martyr”) on the top. Strangely, unlike other tombs found at that time, it was not mentioned in the excavation papers. Almost 200 years later, in 2006, archaeologists discovered perhaps this same sarcophagus under the altar, which may contain St. Paul’s remains. (Robin Elam Musumeci)

Lying within Vatican City, St. Peter’s Basilica is a centre of pilgrimage for Roman Catholics. The impressive 17th-century piazza of the vast church, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and its treasure trove of sculptures and paintings also make it of interest to art lovers.

The church stands on the site of Emperor Nero’s Circo Vaticano, and it is thought that St. Peter and fellow Christian martyrs were killed there between 64 and 67 CE. The apostle was buried in a grave next to the wall of the stadium; when the stadium was abandoned in 160, a small monument was built to mark the spot. Emperor Constantine ordered a basilica to be built on the site of the saint’s tomb in 315, and the church was consecrated in 326.

Pope Nicholas V ordered the reconstruction of the dilapidated church in the 15th century, but work began in earnest in 1506 when Pope Julius II commissioned architect Donato Bramante to design a new basilica. Based on a Greek cross plan with a central dome and four smaller domes, the new basilica was completed in 1626.

An aging Michelangelo took over the project in 1547 and designed the 390-foot- (119-metre-) high dome above the high altar that was constructed directly above St. Peter’s tomb. Architect Carlo Maderno succeeded Michelangelo in masterminding the job and altered the original plan to resemble a Latin cross by extending the nave toward the piazza. Gian Lorenzo Bernini designed the 95-foot- (29-metre-) high Baroque canopy that stands in the centre of the church; it was made using bronze taken from the Pantheon nearby. (Carol King)

Two centuries before building had begun on the first doge’s palace or traders haggled on the Rialto, there existed an established community out on a flat sandbank in the north of the Venetian lagoon: Torcello. Invading Huns and, later, Lombards had driven mainlanders to seek out safety on the lagoon islets during the 5th and 6th centuries, and the permanence and status of Torcello was confirmed when Bishop Mauro of Altino founded the Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta here in 639. It is estimated that by the 16th century about 20,000 people lived on Torcello, but its decline had already begun—its silted-up canals and malarial swamps were being progressively abandoned for the growing city of Venice. The basilica, the adjacent church of Santa Fosca, and a few other surviving structures are the last remnants of a once-thriving island city.

The basilica’s original layout is largely intact and incorporates several early elements—the circular baptistery forming the entrance (rather than being set to one side as in later churches), the “diaconico” mosaics, and the restored altar table—but its crowning glory, so unexpected in this low-key location, are the mosaics. Extending across the western wall is a Crucifixion, a Resurrection, and, most dramatically, the Last Judgment, completed in the 13th century. Most emotive, though, is the glowing golden Virgin Mary above the apse at the eastern end: she is the Madonna Teoteca, the God-bearer, believed to have been the creation of Greek artists more than 700 years ago. Torcello’s simple beauty and artistry are a potent reminder of a time and a place when the church was as much a part of Byzantium as it was of Rome.

Today Torcello is, literally, in a backwater, but among its lonely marshlands it is still possible to catch a sense of the watery isolation out of which the city of Venice grew. (Caroline Ball)

Turin Cathedral, constructed in the 15th century, is most famous today for being the home of the Shroud of Turin. However, it was also the first major Renaissance building in the city.

The Shroud of Turin is one of the Roman Catholic Church’s most holy relics. Believed by some to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ, it bears the ghostly outline of the back and front of a man. The shroud passed into the hands of the house of Savoy, the rulers of Turin, in 1453. From 1357 it had been owned by a French knight called Geoffroi de Charny, and, although its provenance cannot be reliably traced before this date, it may well have been housed in several locations, including Jerusalem, Edessa, and Constantinople.

The shroud was brought to Turin Cathedral in 1578 and, since the 17th century, has had its own chapel, a fine and dramatic example of Baroque architecture. In 1988 the age of the shroud’s cloth was submitted to carbon dating, which placed it in the period 1260 to 1390. The Roman Catholic Church accepted the results but insists its authenticity has no bearing on its position as an object of veneration. In 1997 the chapel was damaged by fire, although, fortunately, a fireman was able to carry the shroud to safety. The shroud is rarely shown to the public. Regardless of the true nature of the shroud, it has been an object of devotion for centuries and remains an important relic for millions of Christians. (Jacob Field)