Explore Religious Heritage Across Europe

The Cathedral of Sovana dates back to the 8th and 9th centuries, and from that time until the 17th century it was subject to repeated structural interventions or decorative modernisation. Tradition has it that the Bishop of Palermo, Mamiliano, carried out evangelisation work in Sovana at the beginning of the 4th century. This early conversion to Christianity earned Sovana its appointment as an episcopal see in the 5th century.

The Cathedral of Spoleto was built in the 11th and 12th centuries on the site of an older Romanesque church. The Romanesque façade and the bell tower were completed in 1207. The original Romanesque porch was replaced in the 15th century by a Renaissance porch, the interior was completely modified in the 17th century by Pope Urban VIII, former Bishop of Spoleto, and his nephew Francesco Barberini, who was also Bishop of Spoleto. The last modifications were finally made in the 18th century.

St Jacob Church is the oldest religious building in Val Gardena, founded in the 12th or 13th century. The church has a Romanesque core that was reworked in late Gothic style in the 17th century. The church contains valuable 15th century frescoes in the apse, the other paintings on the walls near the pulpit date from the late 18th century.

St. Mark's Basilica, with the Campanile and St. Mark's Square, is the main architectural site of Venice. The current basilica, built on an old church also dedicated to St. Mark, dates back to the 11th century. Throughout the period of the Republic of Venice, the church belonged to the Doge's Palace. It was not until 1807 that St. Mark officially became a cathedral.

St. Dominic's Basilica was built at the beginning of the 14th century on the initiative of the Dominicans, according to a project by Giovanni Pisano (1248-1318). The work was completed in 1458. Between 1629 and 1632, the interior was completely refurbished by Carlo Maderno according to a Latin cross plan with three long naves in a sober style, all in white. All that remains of the original building is the cloister (1455-1579) and, at the level of the choir, a large Gothic window dating back to the 15th century. The two adjoining cloisters of the convent house the State Archives and the National Archaeological Museum of Umbria.

The church of St. Francis was built with a convent in the 13th century, forty years after the saint's death (1181- 1226). The convent of San Francesco became an important spiritual centre in the 17th and 18th centuries. The wing of the former convent, transformed into a court of law, was burned down in 1912.

St. Peter and St. Paul's Basilica is undoubtedly one of the most famous churches in Rome's modernist quarter (Q. XXXII). The building, designed by architect Arnaldo Foschini in 1938, is a Greek cross and features a reinforced concrete structure topped by a 31-metre diameter dome. It was not until 1955 that it was officially opened for worship. The two colossal statues of St. Peter and St. Paul facing the building since 1942, are two of the most representative elements of the basilica.

Also known as the Treviso Cathedral, this cathedral was originally built in the place of a previous Roman temple. Remodelled in the 12th century in a Romanesque style,and remodeled again in the 18th century in a neoclassical style, the current building dates from the 19th century. Much still remains of the previous buildings however, most natably the crypt, wherein several of Treviso's bishops are buried. There is a legend surrounding the cathedral's unfinished bell tower, which states that it was stopped mid-construction by the Venetian government so that it would not be taller than the tower on St. Marks square.

St. Peter's Church was built in the second half of the 18th century, between 1773 and 1795, in place of another older church, still dedicated to St. Peter and most probably built in 1416.

Sulmona Cathedral was first mentioned in the 12th century. The church was seriously damaged for the first time in the earthquake of 1456. After the earthquake of 1706, it was seriously damaged and rebuilt in Baroque style, some elements of which are still visible today, despite recent restoration work. The original plan, the lower part of the façade and the Gothic crypt have also been preserved.