Santa Reparata, Florence

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.

[1] 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Ever since the 3rd century there was an area in the north of Florence which was dedicated to Christianity and up to the Middle Ages represented the most important religious center of the city.

The bones of Saint Zenobius (born about 328) were transferred to Santa Reparata at an unidentified time (according to most scientists it happened in the 9th century).

The excavations have cast light on a new basilica above the paleo-Christian church with characteristics that are very diverse, even though the walls on the perimeter were still the same (or better, they were in part reconstructed on top of the antique ones).

Andrew was an important personality for the Florentine rebirth under the successors of Charlemagne, given that in 871 he was an envoy of Louis II (Davidsohn volume 1 p. 131) and as such sat in judgement together with margrave of Tuscia, Adalbert, four years later, in 875; he obtained immunity for the territory of his own diocese from the emperor Charles the Bald; and in the year 876 he was in Pavia among the 18 bishops that elected the same Charles II the Bald King of Italy.

The crypt also was enlarged in the romanesque age; the ceiling was carried by columns and its dimensions were widened until the entry of the two chapels on the side, where two stairways lead up to the presbytery.

The two columns of porphyry were originally placed at six metres distance from the eastern gate in memory of the occupation of the Balearic Islands in 1115 and stayed there until 1333.

But, as Villani says, Santa Reparata at a certain point had to seem rough and too small for the new ambitions of Florence in the 13th century, so much so that in 1293 it was decided to reconstruct the building.

On 8 September 1296 the cornerstone was laid for the new cathedral, but the people of Florence continued to honor Santa Reparata so much so that in the middle of the 13th century the little apsis on the right side was equipped with a fresco with a pietà.