This complex stands in the area that was once outside the perimeter of the first city walls made of selenite. Where the Basilica stands was probably previously the site of an imposing circular temple dedicated to the goddess Isis, converted during the first centuries AD to Christian worship and named after Santo Stefano.
In 393 the remains of the protomartyrs Vitale and Agricola were found in an area housing a Jewish cemetery and leading towards Strada Maggiore, by Bishop Eustasio and Sant’Ambrogio, Bishop of Milan, the governing state of Bologna. An early church was dedicated to them shortly after, identifiable in the remains of a rectangular building featuring three apses.
At the time of Bishop Petronius (who lived and worked between 431-32 and 450 AD), a number of other buildings were built, including the Church of the Trinity at the far end of the lot. Its configuration and orientation take after the holy places in Jerusalem, putting it in close communication with the nearby San Giovanni in Monte: the Passion and Resurrection of Christ find, therefore, a symbolic representation in this location.
During the time of the Longobards in Bologna (8th century), the Church of the Crucifix was built, originally dedicated to San Giovanni Battista: the building currently acts as the entrance to the complex.
At the beginning of the 11th century, a crypt was built under this church in order to preserve the relics of San Vitale and Sant’Agricola, on account of the fact that the church itself was in such poor condition. In the meantime, a community of Benedictine monks settled within these walls, and they were responsible for the construction of the cloister and, more generally, a renovation of all the structures in the Romanesque style, which came to an end in the mid-12th century.
The primitive church of Santo Stefano, again circular and set on 12 columns, some of which are joined together, was rebuilt using an octagonal plan with a dome on top, similar to the building in Jerusalem referred to as the tomb of Christ.
In the centuries that followed, the complex underwent few substantial changes in a time of varying fortunes of the property right up until the arrival of the French who, in 1797, ordered the abolition of the convent and the dispersal of its properties.
The late nineteenth-century restorations led by the learned count Giovanni Gozzadini and Engineer Raffaele Faccioli and later still, by Edoardo Collamarini in the 1910s, were impressive yet highly criticised. The seven original churches were reduced to four and the general appearance displayed a Romanesque style, recreated with great attention to detail.
From 1941 onwards it was inhabited by a community of Olivetan Benedictine monks, now replaced by Franciscan friars.
Sources
P. Foschi et alii, La Basilica di Santo Stefano a Bologna. Storia, arte e cultura, Bologna, Gli inchiostri associati, 1997
https://www.santostefanobologna.it/
https://www.storiaememoriadibologna.it/basilica-di-santo-stefano-1884-luogo
Photo: 1Cinquantesimo