If you look carefully at the Basilica’s façade, you will notice a small white pyramid on the middle arch left column’s capitol: a precious urn is located right underneath it, whose date is not certain. Some think that it dates back to the Roman times, some other it holds the remains of Tiziana, the 12 years daughter of the Langobardic queen Teodolinda.
The inscription has been damaged, but you can still read the letters “RO…. TI…NAE QUAE VIXIT ANN. XII. M.VII D. XIII”. However, this Basilica holds many other mysteries. For instance, an “ourobos” (a snake biting its own tale) is sculpted on the three tombs you can find in the minor apse on the right. This symbol is related to alchemy and also encloses a butterfly, representing the metamorphosis: what does it have to do with catholic religion?
The Romanesque architectural style of the Basilica dates back to the times between XI and XIII Century. Even though it hasn’t been used singe 1500, you can notice that the three remaining apses are built with different types of stones, different shapes, colours and material, like the columns.
Besides, only these apses and the first nave (the only one survived) are covered by roofs (non-original). The uncovered area is part of Bonate Sotto’s cemetery, which still holds numerous ancient graves. On the inside, you can admire the original capitols representing zoomorphic, anthropomorphic and geometrical shapes, resembling the Cluny Gothic style.
Out of curiosity:
According to the oral sources, till the 1980s there used to be a huge stone with a deep cavity near the Basilica, called “pila”, which was also mentioned in a 1671 document. The cavity was always full of water even during drought periods, and people believed that this water had miraculous powers: in fact, they used to spill some water on their eyes as a sort of pagan legacy, until legend has it that a hunter poured the water on his dog: since then, the water has disappeared.
If you look carefully at the Basilica’s façade, you will notice a small white pyramid on the middle arch left column’s capitol: a precious urn is located right underneath it, whose date is not certain. Some think that it dates back to the Roman times, some other it holds the remains of Tiziana, the 12 years daughter of the Langobardic queen Teodolinda.
The inscription has been damaged, but you can still read the letters “RO…. TI…NAE QUAE VIXIT ANN. XII. M.VII D. XIII”. However, this Basilica holds many other mysteries. For instance, an “ourobos” (a snake biting its own tale) is sculpted on the three tombs you can find in the minor apse on the right. This symbol is related to alchemy and also encloses a butterfly, representing the metamorphosis: what does it have to do with catholic religion?
The Romanesque architectural style of the Basilica dates back to the times between XI and XIII Century. Even though it hasn’t been used singe 1500, you can notice that the three remaining apses are built with different types of stones, different shapes, colours and material, like the columns.
Besides, only these apses and the first nave (the only one survived) are covered by roofs (non-original). The uncovered area is part of Bonate Sotto’s cemetery, which still holds numerous ancient graves. On the inside, you can admire the original capitols representing zoomorphic, anthropomorphic and geometrical shapes, resembling the Cluny Gothic style.
Out of curiosity:
According to the oral sources, till the 1980s there used to be a huge stone with a deep cavity near the Basilica, called “pila”, which was also mentioned in a 1671 document. The cavity was always full of water even during drought periods, and people believed that this water had miraculous powers: in fact, they used to spill some water on their eyes as a sort of pagan legacy, until legend has it that a hunter poured the water on his dog: since then, the water has disappeared.
