Basilica dei Santi Felice e Fortunato (Vicenza) - Facade

About

The basilica of Saints Felix and Fortunatus is a church in Vicenza, currently a parish church, whose origin dates back to the 4th–5th centuries; its current Romanesque appearance is mainly due to the reconstruction of the 12th century and the restorations of the 20th century. For more than a millennium the basilica was attached to the most important Benedictine abbey in the Vicenza area.

On the site where the basilica stands today, there existed in Roman times a pagan necropolis – located just outside the walls, along the Via Postumia route – which extended over a rather large area, partly marshy, in which numerous burial artifacts were found, such as cappuccina tombs, aedicule tombs, sarcophagi, stelae and inscriptions, coins and grave goods.

Following the Edict of Milan that allowed Christian worship, the faithful of Vicenza reserved an area in the necropolis for the burial of their dead and constructed a building there for worship: the finds represent the first evidence of the Christian faith in the city. The stele of the Adoration of the Magi, the most important evidence of the Christian cemetery, also dates to this period – the end of the fourth century.

The early church – built in the style typical of the earliest Christian worship halls in the Po Valley region between the mid- and late 4th century – was a single hall measuring 24 x 16.5 meters, identifiable through a layer of red marble in the floor of the present church, and was decorated with a rich mosaic pavement consisting largely of votive offerings, partly preserved and brought to light, along with part of the foundations, in the mid-20th century.

This building shows how the Christian community of Vicenza had already achieved considerable importance in the first half of the 4th century, as evidenced by the fact that a senatorial family also contributed to the construction of the mosaic floor.

After the removal of the relics of the martyr Felix from Aquileia, probably around 380, the church proved insufficient for the needs of the now numerous faithful, and it was decided to build a more imposing structure.

Thus between the end of the 4th and the middle of the 5th century, a full-fledged basilica was built, with a solemn and majestic layout, with three naves separated by two rows of pillars, measuring 45 × 22 meters; like the earlier church, the nave was also paved with mosaics, and extended into a rectangular apse.

In front of the basilica a 7 m deep atrium, the narthex, as a resting place for penitents and a reception place for pilgrims visiting relics, a large quadriporticus, and propylaea formed a 41.5 × 25 m extension; all in all, it was an imposing building, 86.5 m long. The plan was similar to that of St. Ambrose in Milan, also a large suburban basilica dedicated to the veneration of the city's saints.

A sacellum and baptistery were also erected near the basilica.

The sacellum – one of the most remarkable and best-preserved early Christian buildings in Italy – was built shortly after the mid-5th century and was originally meant to correspond to the Martyrion intended to house the basilica's relics. Later, probably in the 7th–8th centuries, it was dedicated to Our Lady : in front of the altar, above a cornice supported by four columns, it read:

Hoc oratorium B.M. Matris Domini Gregorius sublimis vir referendarius a fundamentis aedificavit et in Christi nomine dicavit

It continued to function as a place of worship for the martyrs until 1674, the year in which, when the complex was renovated, it was transformed into a service room for the adjoining monastery; windows were opened and the original small windows closed, the portal remodeled, the marble covering removed, and, most importantly, the martyrs' remains were moved to the crypt of the basilica and placed in opulent Baroque -style gilded wooden reliquaries.

The foundations of another building with an octagonal plan, found in the 1943 excavations, by its structure, planimetric position and elevation plane in relation to the ancient church, lead to the conclusion that it was the ancient baptistery, built at the same time as the basilica. Because of its presence, some historians have believed that San Felice was the first cathedral of Vicenza.

However, there is no record in the available documentation that the city was already an episcopal see in the fifth century, as were many others in the Venetiae ; among the numerous records of the presence of Venetian bishops at councils in northern Italy, there is no mention of a native of Vicenza until the late sixth century, when Orontius is mentioned.

It can be assumed that the construction of two churches, Santa Maria Annunciata inside the city and San Felice outside the walls, may have corresponded to the needs of the Christian community at that time: communal prayer, catechesis, and the celebration of the Eucharist and other sacraments, which, however, could also be celebrated by the bishop of another city on a pastoral visit or by a priest delegated by him. It is likely that until the end of the 6th century the community of Vicenza referred to the bishop and diocese of Padua, a city on which it also gravitated from the civil point of view, and became autonomous only after the establishment of the Lombard Kingdom, of which Padua was not initially a part.

– built in the style typical of the earliest Christian worship halls in the Po Valley region between the mid- and late 4th century – was a single hall measuring 24 x 16.5 meters, identifiable through a layer of red marble in the floor of the present church, and was decorated with a rich mosaic pavement consisting largely of votive offerings, partly preserved and brought to light, along with part of the foundations, in the mid-20th century.

This building shows how the Christian community of Vicenza had already achieved considerable importance in the first half of the 4th century, as evidenced by the fact that a senatorial family also contributed to the construction of the mosaic floor.

After the removal of the relics of the martyr Felix from Aquileia, probably around 380, the church proved insufficient for the needs of the now numerous faithful, and it was decided to build a more imposing structure.

Thus between the end of the 4th and the middle of the 5th century, a full-fledged basilica was built, with a solemn and majestic layout, with three naves separated by two rows of pillars, measuring 45 × 22 meters; like the earlier church, the nave was also paved with mosaics, and extended into a rectangular apse.

In front of the basilica a 7 m deep atrium, the narthex, as a resting place for penitents and a reception place for pilgrims visiting relics, a large quadriporticus, and propylaea formed a 41.5 × 25 m extension; all in all, it was an imposing building, 86.5 m long. The plan was similar to that of St. Ambrose in Milan, also a large suburban basilica dedicated to the veneration of the city's saints.