Basilica di Sant’Agata Maggiore

It was built in the 5th century AD along the course of the river Padenna, an ancient branch of the river Po, whose course partly coincided with today’s Via Mazzini. It was probably erected under Bishop Pietro II (494-519), whose monogram appears in the nave, although Bishop Giovanni I (477-494) is to be considered the true founder.
The apse was probably completed in the following century, under Bishop Agnello (556-569), thanks to the contribution of Giuliano l’Argentario, a Byzantine banker and patron, who in the same years participated financially in buildings such as the basilicas of San Vitale, Sant’Apollinare in Classe, and San Michele in Africisco.
Over time, the church underwent numerous alterations. In the surrounding meadow, once a cemetery, there was a four-sided portico, which was replaced in the 16th century by a circular bell tower (1560). Following an earthquake in 1688, the mosaic decoration of the apse was destroyed and the floor was then raised by 2.50 metres.
In the course of restoration work carried out between 1913 and 1918 by Giuseppe Gerola, the valuable white-stone prothyrum from the former Church of San Niccolò, coeval with the bell tower, and the mullioned window above it were added to the façade, restoring the entire building to its original early Christian atmosphere.
The layout is divided into three naves, separated by a double row of ten recovered columns surmounted by pulvini and Corinthian capitals dating back to the 6th century, among which a grey-green Greek marble ambon stands out.
The apse, at the end of the nave, is polygonal on the outside and a semicircular basin on the inside. In the centre, on the altar, stands the canvas (1546) by Ravenna artist Luca Longhi depicting St Agatha between Saints Catherine of Alexandria and Cecilia.

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