Santo Stefano is a church in

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

, northern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Located on a hill overlooking the central Via XX Settembre, it is one of the most outstanding examples of

Romanesque architecture Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe that was predominant in the 11th and 12th centuries. The style eventually developed into the Gothic style with the shape of the arches providing a simple distinction: the Ro ...

in the city. The church had been closed for much of the 20th century, until the restoration of the year 1946-1955, when it was reconsecrated.

History

The church was founded in the Middle Ages as part of an abbey, in the place where previously a 6th-century small church, entitled to St. Michael Archangel, was located. The most ancient document mentioning Santo Stefano dates from 965, although some scholars attribute its foundation in 972 to the then bishop of Genoa, Theodulf, who rebuilt it after a

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Rom ...

inroad. It became a parish only eventually, in an unknown date, anyway after 1054. The abbey was held by the Benedictine order of Columbanian monks of

Bobbio Bobbio (Emilian language#Dialects, Bobbiese: ; ; ) is a small town and ''comune'' in the province of Piacenza in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. It is located in the Trebbia River valley southwest of the town Piacenza. There is also an abbey and a ...

from 972 to 1431, when

Pope Boniface IX Pope Boniface IX (; ; c. 1350 – 1 October 1404, born Pietro Tomacelli) was head of the Catholic Church from 2 November 1389 to his death, in October 1404. He was the second Roman pope during the Western Schism.Richard P. McBrien, ''Lives of t ...

turned it into a ''

commenda The commenda was a medieval contract which developed in Italy around the 13th century, and was an early form of limited partnership. The commenda was an agreement between an investing partner and a traveling partner to conduct a commercial enterpris ...

'' under Cardinal Ludovico Fieschi.Alizeri, page 188. In 1497 a chapel with a marble choir was added to the church. In 1535 the monastery was demolished, replaced by another in the mid-17th century. The abbey was cared by the

Olivetan The Olivetans, formally known as the Order of Our Lady of Mount Olivet, are a monastic order. They were founded in 1313 and recognised in 1344. They use the Rule of Saint Benedict and are a member of the Benedictine Confederation, where they are ...

s from 1529 until 1776. The parish territory included the houses of Cristopher Columbus who, according to the tradition, would be baptized here.

Architecture

Santo Stefano is on a single nave, with a superelevated presbytery. Under the latter is the

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

, which would be the original nucleus of the church of St Michael Archangel. The dome is now in brickwork; it was rebuilt in the 14th century by abbot

Niccolò Fieschi Niccolò Fieschi (Genoa, c. 1456 – Rome, 1524) was an Italian Cardinal (Catholicism), Cardinal,From 1503; bishop of Albano 1518, bishop of Sabina 1521, bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina 1523, bishop of Ostia 1524. of the prominent family of ...

, and is octagonal in shape. The lower section of the bell tower is of uncertain dating, but is commonly deemed to be antecedent to the current church, and that it was probably used as a defensive structure. The old church was to be replaced by a new Neo-Romanesque style edifice from the 19th century. The latter was however almost destroyed by Allied

bombings A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanic ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Sources

* * * * *''Storia cronologica dell'Abbazia e Chiesa di Santo Stefano di Genova ricavata da autentiche scritture ed iscrizioni'', 1776

References

{{Commonscat, Santo Stefano (Genoa), Santo Stefano, Genoa

Stefano Stefano is the Italian form of the masculine given name Στέφανος (Stefanos, Stephen). The name is of Greek origin, Στέφανος, meaning a person who made a significant achievement and has been crowned. In Orthodox Christianity the ach ...

Romanesque architecture in Genoa 972 establishments 10th-century establishments in Italy