Santa Reparata, Florence

About

Santa Reparata is the former cathedral of Florence, Italy. Its name refers to Saint Reparata, an early virgin martyr who is the co-patron saint of Florence. Florence Cathedral was constructed over it.

The oldest legends are related to one single event, the invasion of the Ostrogoths under Radagaisus :

- Santa Reparata was constructed to celebrate the victory over Radagaisus on the feast day of Saint Reparata, which happened in the reign of Honorius (emperor) (395 - 423).

- A variant of the previous legend says that the church existed before the battle and was dedicated to the Holy Saviour. Only the name of the building was changed when Radagaisus arrived.

- The third legend refers to the translation of the relics of Saint Zenobius from San Lorenzo to Santa Reparata, and dates this event to 430. Thus, the building must have already existed. This last legend was important for the dating of the building. Still, the translation of Saint Zenobius’ relics is dated to the 9th century by most scientists, because the version according to which the transfer occurred in the 5th century is based on a tale by bishop Andrew, who in turn attributed the legend to the Milanese bishop Simplicianus, who, according to Andrew, wrote a biography of the saint. This biography turned out to be a forgery written around 1130.

Even though distinct proof does not exist, historians generally date the transfer to the 9th century, based on Andrew's version.

Neither are the other two legends about the origin based on solid evidence because the victory over Radagaisus happened in August 405 or 406, but the feast of Saint Reparata is celebrated on the 8 October. At any rate, in 1353 the local authorities, the Signoria, officially accepted the legend that the church was built in honor of Saint Reparata.

There were six distinct excavation campaigns between 1965 and 1974. A last excavation between the baptistery and stairway of the dome was conducted from 1971 to 1972. The discovery of the remains of Santa Reparata has delivered the most concrete evidence of the early Christian age in Florence, which had not been well documented previously. The evidence found before that time includes the excavations in 1948 in Santa Felicita, the notes about San Lorenzo cited by Paolino da Milano in his biography of Abrosius and some tombstones and sarcophagi, but little else.

The excavations were studied by the Canadian Franklin Toker and by da Morozzi, who have published their results. Toker based his work on studies conducted by the archeologist E. Galli during the first two decades of the 19th century. Toker continued the comparative studies undertaken by Galli with tombs that were rediscovered in the area before the baptistery. These tombs are no longer exhibited, but Galli published an account of his research. After reading the conclusions of Toker, Busignani found several inconsistencies that put some question marks to the dating of the levels that was based on the tombs. It is safer to base the research on the dating of coins that were discovered in the Roman soil between the layers of Santa Reparata.

All the coins that were found in the Roman soil belonged to a time frame from the era of emperor Gordianus III (238 to 244) and the reign of emperor Honorius (395 – 423). There is also a glass object, an S-shaped goblet, that was found in a tomb that was inserted in the mosaic pavement of the basilica, and therefore is dated later than the mosaic. By way of comparison with analogous finds which have reliable proofs for their dating, the goblet is dated to the end of the seventh century at the latest. At last, regarding these finds in the Roman soil, one can say that they are to be dated earlier than the 4th century. One can also conclude that at the end of the seventh or eighth century already the tiled floor with the mosaic needed to be partially renovated because the glass object was found in a tomb that was put in a zone where the floor had holes. This, according to Busignani, is sufficient evidence to maintain that the basilica was built at the end of the fourth century or during the first decades of the following century, after the victory of the Roman army over Radagaisus.

The excavations have cast some light onto the floor plan of the first church, which featured the large mosaic. Also the changes that were made later to the subsequent reconstructions and rebuildings are based on this floor plan. In its original setting, Santa Reparata presented itself as a basilica with three naves, that were separated by fourteen pairs of columns. It had semi-circular apses, which could be dated to the end of the fourth century because of the typical paleo-Christian iconography of basilicas from the age of Constantine. In Florence works with this iconography are at Santa Felicita, and probably some works in San Lorenzo date back to that age.

It is not clear whether the columns carried arches or an entablature ; the width of the space between the columns, which is 3.19 metres, would make arches more likely. Not all of the basilica was excavated; the first part, about four columns wide, were dug up underneath the church square and the stairway of Santa Maria del Fiore.

This conclusion is due to the finding of the foundations and the arcades that were attached to the front of Santa Reparata at a distance of 13 metres from the façade of the current cathedral. Including this area, the measurements of Santa Reparata appeared to be remarkable: a length of 58,5 metres on the inside, including the apse, a width of 25 to 26 metres for the oblique north wall. Santa Maria del Fiore is 153 metres long, about 38 metres wide, the length of the crossing nave is 90 metres, the height up to the lantern is 86.7 metres.

The most significant find is the great mosaic which paved all of the basilica, it was found in the left nave, in most of the middle nave and also in the right nave. There are different designs next to each other, among which, next to the usual four leafed rosettes and nods in circles or octagons (accompanied by Christian symbols like a Latin cross and a goblet), is the especially intricate coats of arms with lozenges inscribed between them that take up most space in the middle nave; in it, an epigraph with the names of 14 sponsors is inscribed. The image of a peacock is of remarkable quality between (?) the emblem in the center of the adjacent panel with the name of the sponsor Obsequentius. The motifs of the pavement belong to the usual repertoire of the era of the Roman Empire (Solomon's nods appear in Florence in the mosaics of the building underneath the baptistery) and the juxtaposition of different panels is found in many other examples in the Adriatic area.

From the dates that exist on the valuation of the found materials, a hypothesis can be formulated to date the mosaic between the fourth and the sixth century. It is still necessary to verify this hypothesis with a valuation of the historic point in time. There is the erroneous, rather diffuse opinion that Florence was entering a period of great decadence at the end of the fourth century, so much so that building activity could not be kept up to construct Santa Reparata or the baptistery. According to this erroneous opinion both could not have been built before the 6th or 7th century. The baptistery was considered to be of the Lombard age because it was dedicated to the baptist. However, the existence of such decadence has been disputed, because in 366 Florence was the capital of a vast province and united Tuscany and Umbria, due to the administrative reform by Diocletian and, until 315, it has been the seat of a bishop.

The city was anyway of primary importance and the central power certainly did not neglect it, also because its strategic position at a point where the Via Cassia crossed the river Arno winding its way to Rome. Lognes Pegna said that because during about half of the fourth century the rich people of Florence preferred to abandon Florence to defend themselves from an overly greedy fiscal authority and to evade taxes from administrative officers who took on personal responsibility to collect taxes, the rich landowners abandoned their houses and retired to the country. These town houses then ended as ruins.

Villas like the one found underneath the baptistery, according to Lopes Pegna, were probably occupied by plebeians, small craftsmen or by merchants. Also, this very building, at the time of the attack of the Ostrogoths, was protected by the Porta ad aquilonem, and must have been in a position especially exposed to various attacks and devastations by the barbarians, who threw themselves against the north gate in August 405 or 406. In this respect, Busignani objects that it cannot be understood why the attack of the Ostrogoths should have been concentrated in this point at the north gate.

It is known that the troops of the Ostrogoths were split up into three parts, of which two were camping on the hills of Fiesole while the third wing attacked Florence besieging it from every side.

With respect to the Roman walls at the north side, from the excavations of 1971 to 1972 it has been cleared up that the area of the wall that lies between the Porta da aquilonem and the area of Santa Maria del Fiore was already down in the imperial age. This discovery explains that the city had to be fortified further, which was done in the second half of the fourth century when the barbaric attackers began to really frighten Florence. This must have been the situation of the city when Ambrose, bishop of Milan, came to Florence in 393 and founded the basilica of San Lorenzo, outside the city gate ad aquilonem, but still protected in a certain way.

The victory over Radagaisus must have given Florence a new vital impulse and Christianisation was spurred when Ambrose announced the victory over the barbarians. All that needs to be kept in mind when in the years following the victory there was a new zeal in the construction of religious buildings. According to Busignani, the new grand basilica and the baptistery in front of it must have been constructed in a united effort within a programme of a range that required efficient structures within the city.