Roma e l’Italia. L’archeologia del culto dei santi tra II e VI secolo d.C.

Abstract

In the early Christian period the birth and development of relics’ cult led to the transformation of the Italian landscape
because the depositions affected every part of the country. The gradual monumentalization of martyrs’ tombs led to
the birth of huge sanctuaries. They were composed of funerary and religious buildings but also service facilities, accommodations
for pilgrims and monasteries. The most important sanctuaries, such as those of saints Peter in Vatican,
Erasmus in Formia, Alexander in Nomentum, Felix in Cimitile, Januarius in Naples, Felix in Venosa, Marcianus in
Syracuse and Apostles in Concordia, became so popular that Jerome said: movetur urbs sedibus suis. It seems that
sometimes they were in the same place of the episcopal seats, such as in Sardinia, in some parts of Latium and probably
in Cimitile, Venosa and Concordia. In the 5th and 6th centuries the sanctuaries also spread in rural areas, usually
along important routes. See the site of San Canzian d’Isonzo.