Santa Reparata is the former cathedral

Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...

 of Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. Its name refers to Saint Reparata

Saint Reparata

Saint Reparata was a third century Christian virgin and martyr, possibly mythical, of Caesarea in Palestine. Sources vary as to her age - from 11 to 20-years old - though the Sainte-Réparte cathedral in Nice gives it as 15 . She was arrested for her faith and tortured during the persecution of...

, an early virgin martyr who is the co-patron saint

Patron saint

A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...

 of Florence.

History

Ever since the 3rd century there was an area in the north of Florence which was dedicated to the Christian cult of the time and up to the Middle Ages represented the most important religious center of the city. From the 6th century onwards, a building complex called 'the sacred axis' was constructed in east-west direction (from the Piazza dell'Olio to the area of the apsis

Apsis

An apsis , plural apsides , is the point of greatest or least distance of a body from one of the foci of its elliptical orbit. In modern celestial mechanics this focus is also the center of attraction, which is usually the center of mass of the system...

 of the Duomo), which was traditionally considered the cult area in Late Antiquity

Late Antiquity

Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...

, protected by existing Roman walls. The place included the Bishop's palace, the Baptistery of San Giovanni

Battistero di San Giovanni (Florence)

The Florence Baptistry or Battistero di San Giovanni is a religious building in Florence , Italy, which has the status of a minor basilica....

, a hospital, a parsonage, a graveyard, and three churches: Salvatore al Vescovo, San Michele Visdomini and Santa Reparata. The main point within the sacred axis was Santa Reparata, a sacral building of paleo-Christian origin which was probably the first construction of this building complex. The bones of Saint Zenobius

Saint Zenobius

Saint Zenobius is venerated as the first bishop of Florence. His feast day is celebrated on May 25.-Life:Born of a Florentine noble family, he was educated by his pagan parents. He came early under the influence of the holy bishop Theodore, was baptized by him, and succeeded, after much...

 (born about 328) were transferred to Santa Reparata at an unidentified time (according to most scientists it happened in the 9th century). At this time Santa Reparata became the new seat of the bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

, which had been in Basilica of San Lorenzo before that time.

Legends about the origin

The oldest legends are related to one single event, the invasion of the Ostrogoth

Ostrogoth

The Ostrogoths were a branch of the Goths , a Germanic tribe who developed a vast empire north of the Black Sea in the 3rd century AD and, in the late 5th century, under Theodoric the Great, established a Kingdom in Italy....

s under Radagaisus

Radagaisus

Radagaisus was a Gothic king who led an invasion of Roman Italy in late 405 and the first half of 406. A commited Pagan, Radagaisus evidentily planned to sacrifice the Roman Senators to the gods and burn Rome to the ground. Radagaisus was executed after being defeated by the half-Vandal general...

:

• Santa Reparata was constructed to celebrate the victory over Radagaisus on the day of S. Reparata, which happened during the reign of emperor Flavius Augustus Honorius (395 - 423).
• A variant of the previous legend says that the church existed before the battle and was dedicated to San Salvatore. Only the name of the building was changed when Radagaisus arrived.
• The third legend refers to the transferral of the remains of St. Zanobus from San Lorenzo to Santa Reparata, and dates this event to 430. Thus the building must have existed at the time.

This last legend was important for the dating of the building. Still, the episode of the bone transferral is dated to the 9th century by most scientists, because the version according to which the transfer occurred in the 5th century is based on a tale by bishop Andrew, who in turn attributed the legend to the Milanese bishop Simplicianus, who, according to Andrew, wrote a biography of the saint. This biography turned out to be a fake written around 1130.

Even though distinct proof does not exist, historians generally date the transfer to the 9th century basing on Andrew's version.

Also the other two legends about the origin are not based on solid evidence because the victory over Radagaisus happened in August of 405 or 406, but Santa Reparata is celebrated on the 8th of October. At any rate, in 1353 the local authorities, the Signoria, officially accepted the legend that the church was built in honor of Santa Reparata.

Excavation

Excavated layers

The following data show the levels at which the finds were made, assuming the pavement of the preexisting Roman buildings as groundlevel. This groundlevel of S. Reparata is about 1,7 metres below today's street pavement. 2.70 m above this Roman groundlevel is the marble pavement of Santa Maria del Fiore, this is about one meter above today's street level. At 1.90 m there is rough cobblestone Cobblestone Cobblestones are stones that were frequently used in the pavement of early streets. "Cobblestone" is derived from the very old English word "cob", which had a wide range of meanings, one of which was "rounded lump" with overtones of large size... . This is the highest of the pavements that were preserved from S. Reparata. Between this and the level beneath there is a layer of simple filling material. At 1.05 m there are some remains of brick pavement, which indicate a new construction being built before the Council of Florence in 1055. At 0.50 m there are marble Marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...  and stone plates with some elements in red clay. These are remains from the first reconstruction of S. Reparata in the Carolingian-Ottonian period. 30 cm above the Roman pavement there is a mosaic Mosaic Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...  pavement, showing for example a peacock. At the groundlevel there is the Roman pavement made from cocciopesto, a crushed clay Clay Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...  stone mass. In excavations from 1912 to 1915 Roman mosaics dating from the first century were also found on the same level, situated underneath the baptistery.

There were six distinct excavation campaigns between 1965 and 1974. A last excavation between the baptistery and stairway of the dome was conducted from 1971 to 1972. The discovery of the remains of Santa Reparata has delivered the most concrete evidence of the early Christian age in Florence, which has 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.

The excavations were studied by the Canadian Franklin Toker

Franklin Toker

Franklin Toker is a professor of the History of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh and the author of eight books on the history of art and architecture, ranging from the excavations he conducted under Santa Reparata, Florence to 21st century American Urbanism. He is a President...

 and by da Morozzi, who have published their results. Toker based his work on studies conducted by the archeologist E. Galli during the first two decades of the 19th century. Toker continued the comparative studies undertaken by Galli with tombs that were rediscovered in the area before the baptistery. These tombs are no longer exhibited, but Galli published an account of his research. After reading the conclusions of Toker, Busignani found several inconsistencies that put some questionmarks to the dating of the levels that was based on the tombs. It is safer to base the research on the dating of coin

Coin

A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....

s that were discovered in the Roman soil between the layers of Santa Reparata.

All the coins that were found in the Roman soil belonged to a time frame from the era of emperor Gordianus III (238 to 244) and the reign of emperor Honorius (395 – 423). There is also a glass object, an S-shaped goblet, that was found in a tomb that was inserted in the mosaic pavement of the basilica

Basilica

The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...

, and therefore is dated later than the mosaic. By way of comparison with analogous finds which have reliable proofs for their dating, the goblet is dated to the end of the seventh century at the latest. At last, regarding these finds in the Roman soil, one can say that they are to be dated earlier than the 4th century. One can also conclude that at the end of the seventh or eighth century already the tile

Tile

A tile is a manufactured piece of hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, or even glass. Tiles are generally used for covering roofs, floors, walls, showers, or other objects such as tabletops...

d floor with the mosaic needed to be partially renovated because the glass object was found in a tomb that was put in a zone where the floor

Floor

A floor is the walking surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from simple dirt in a cave to many-layered surfaces using modern technology...

 had holes. This according to Busignani, is sufficient evidence to maintain that the basilica was built at the end of the fourth century or during the first decades of the following century, after the victory of the Roman army over Radagaisus.

Floor plan of the first church

The excavations have cast some light onto the floor plan

Floor plan

In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan, or floorplan, is a diagram, usually to scale, showing a view from above of the relationships between rooms, spaces and other physical features at one level of a structure....

 of the first church, which featured the large mosaic. Also the changes that were made later to the subsequent reconstructions and rebuildings are based on this floor plan. In its original setting, Santa Reparata presented itself as a basilica with three nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

s, that were separated by fourteen pairs of column

Column

A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...

s. It had semi-circular apses, which could be dated to the end of the fourth century because of the typical paleo-Christian iconography

Iconography

Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...

 of basilicas from the age of Constantine. In Florence works with this iconography are at Santa Felicita, and probably some works in San Lorenzo date back to that age.

It is not clear whether the columns carried arches or an entablature

Entablature

An entablature refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and are commonly divided into the architrave , the frieze ,...

; the width of the space between the columns, which is 3.19 metres, would make arches more likely. 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.

Dimensions

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 facade of the dome. Including this area, the measurements of Santa Reparata appeared to be remarkable: a length of 58,5 metres on the inside, including the apsis, a width of 25 to 26 metres for the oblique north wall. Santa Maria del Fiore is 153 metres long, about 38 metres wide, the length of the crossing nave is 90 metres, the height up to the lantern

Lantern

A lantern is a portable lighting device or mounted light fixture used to illuminate broad areas. Lanterns may also be used for signaling, as 'torches', or as general light sources outdoors . Low light level varieties are used for decoration. The term "lantern" is also used more generically to...

 is 86.7 metres. Santa Maria Del Fiore is very tall.

Mosaic pavement

The most significant find is the great mosaic which paved all of the basilica, it was found in the left nave, in most of the middle nave and also in the right nave. There are different designs next to each other, among which, next to the usual four leafed rosette

Rosette (design)

A rosette is a round, stylized flower design, used extensively in sculptural objects from antiquity. Appearing in Mesopotamia and used to decorate the funeral stele in Ancient Greece...

s and nods in circles or octagons (accompanied by Christian symbols like a Latin cross and a goblet), the especially intricate coats of arms with lozenge

Lozenge

A lozenge , often referred to as a diamond, is a form of rhombus. The definition of lozenge is not strictly fixed, and it is sometimes used simply as a synonym for rhombus. Most often, though, lozenge refers to a thin rhombus—a rhombus with acute angles of 45°...

s inscribed between them that take up most space in the middle nave; in it, an epigraph with the names of 14 sponsors is inscribed. The image of a peacock is of remarkable quality between the emblem in the center of the adjacent panel with the name of the sponsor Obsequentius. Stylistically, the North-African influence that were found can be explained by the fact that this culture existed, apart from Sicily

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

, also in most of the oriental Mediterranean and in particular in Syria: from Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

 the echoes of this North-African culture easily reached Florence, thanks to the Syrian merchants who also operated in Florence and who constituted the most ancient core of the Christian population in Florence. These merchants had to keep up relationships with their country of origin. In any case the motifs of the pavement belong to the usual repertoire of the era of the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 (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.

Florence in the 4th century

From the dates that exist on the valuation of the materials found a hypothesis can be formulated to date the mosaic between the fourth and the sixth century. It is still necessary to verify this hypothesis with a valutation of the historic point in time. 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. According to this erroneous opinion both could not have been built before the 6th or 7th century. The baptistery was considered to be of the Lombard age

Lombards

The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...

 because it was dedicated to the baptist. However, the existence of such decadence has been disputed, because in 366 Florence was the capital of a vast province and united Tuscany

Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....

 and Umbria, due to the administrative reform by Diocletian

Diocletian

Diocletian |latinized]] upon his accession to Diocletian . c. 22 December 244  – 3 December 311), was a Roman Emperor from 284 to 305....

 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

Via Cassia

The Via Cassia was an important Roman road striking out of the Via Flaminia near the Milvian Bridge in the immediate vicinity of Rome and, passing not far from Veii traversed Etruria...

 crossed the river Arno

Arno

The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the most important river of central Italy after the Tiber.- Source and route :The river originates on Mount Falterona in the Casentino area of the Apennines, and initially takes a southward curve...

 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

Tax evasion

Tax evasion is the general term for efforts by individuals, corporations, trusts and other entities to evade taxes by illegal means. Tax evasion usually entails taxpayers deliberately misrepresenting or concealing the true state of their affairs to the tax authorities to reduce their tax liability,...

 from administrative officers who took on personal responsibility to collect taxes. So the rich landowners abandoned their houses and retired to the country. These town houses then ended as ruins.

Villa

Villa

A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...

s like the one found underneath the baptistery, according to Lopes Pegna, were probably occupied by plebeians, small craftsmen or by merchants. Also, this very building, at the time of the attack of the Ostrogoths, was protected by the Porta ad aquilonem, and must have been in a position especially exposed to various attacks and devastations by the barbarians, who threw themselves against the north gate in August 405 or 406. In this respect, Busignani objects that it cannot be understood why the attack of the ostrogoths should have been concentrated in this point at the north gate.

It is known that the troops of the Ostrogoths were split up into three parts, of which two were camping on the hills of Fiesole

Fiesole

Fiesole is a town and comune of the province of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a famously scenic height above Florence, 8 km NE of that city...

 while the third wing attacked Florence besieging it from every side.

With respect to the Romans walls at the north side, from the excavations of 1971 to 1972 it has been cleared up that the area of the wall that lies between the Porta da aquilonem and the area of Santa Maria del Fiore was already down in the imperial age. This discovery explains that city had to be fortified further, which was done in the second half of the fourth century when the barbaric attackers began to really frighten Florence. This must have been the situation of the city when Ambrose, bishop of Milan, came to Florence in 393 and founded the basilica of San Lorenzo, outside the city gate ad aquilonem, but still protected in a certain way.

The victory over Radagaisus must have given Florence a new vital impulse and Christianisation was spurred when Ambrose announced the victory over the barbarians. All that needs to be kept in mind when in the years following the victory there was a new zeal in the construction of religious buildings. 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.

The truce lasted about a century and a half, until the Greek-gothic war (according to Davidsohn volume 1, p. 81). The buildings of the city did not suffer damage in this new war, when the armed encounter took place in Mugello, next to Scarperia.

It is certain that from the middle of the above mentioned century on, between the years of Stilicho

Stilicho

Flavius Stilicho was a high-ranking general , Patrician and Consul of the Western Roman Empire, notably of Vandal birth. Despised by the Roman population for his Germanic ancestry and Arian beliefs, Stilicho was in 408 executed along with his wife and son...

 and Radagaisus and the years of Justinian and Totila

Totila

Totila, original name Baduila was King of the Ostrogoths from 541 to 552 AD. A skilled military and political leader, Totila reversed the tide of Gothic War, recovering by 543 almost all the territories in Italy that the Eastern Roman Empire had captured from his Kingdom in 540.A relative of...

, there was a progressive and important empoverishment of the population of Florence, as well as in the whole Italy. This empoverishment, that started after the fall from power of Radagaisus, confirmed the premature dating of the basilica and the baptistery. According to Busignani the baptistery is so atypical in its architectural structure that it could not be explained if not in tight closeness to classical Roman architecture and because the basilica had to be, according to logic, earlier than the construction of the baptesimal church, a dating according to the victory of 405 - 406 became necessary.

First rebuilding after the Gothic War

The Gothic Wars finished in 554. This long war period reduced Florence to a miserable state. Under the Lombards

Lombards

The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...

 Florence lost its supremacy over Tuscia in favour of Lucca, while the historic enemy Fiesole took also power. Tradition wants it that Florence was restored by Charlemagne

Charlemagne

Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...

, even if it is more correct to talk of a rebirth (in fact it was celebrated as such at the time). And now it is logical enough to locate the first rebuilding of Santa Reparata in this age of rebirth.

The excavations have cast light on a new basilica above the antique paleo-Christian church with characteristiques 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). So the structural organism changed as described below.

Structural changes during the Carolingian-otonian time

instead of the 14 pairs of columns seven pairs of pilaster Pilaster A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile.... s were built two chapels were attached at the sides of the apsis, which looked much like a crossing nave, in this area the space in between the pilasters also widened which further added to the impression of a crossing nave. the excavation of the apsis has revealed the creation of a crypt Crypt In architecture, a crypt is a stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a burial vault possibly containing sarcophagi, coffins or relics....

After the structural changes during the Carolingian-otonian time (8th to 9th century), the new Santa Reparata represented an episode of new type in architecture, because it articulates structures that changes the undefined space of paleo-Christian churches (see textbox). It possessed a structure similar to a crossing nave.
As far as the use of the crypt goes, that was realized in this basilica at this time, it came into existence and spread during the Carolingian age; tied to a cult of martyrs and saints that frequently were excavated at the time and placed inside the church: almost all scientists believe that the bones of St. Zanobus have been transferred at this time.

Together with the bones of St. Zanobus the chair of the bishop was probably moved from San Lorenzo to Santa Reparata. It is impossible to know if the transfer was at the time of bishop Andrew (869 to 890), as some claim. It is documented that Andrew dedicated the altar in Santa Reparata, which would confirm the Carolingian chronology of the second rebuilding of the basilica. 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

Louis II, Holy Roman Emperor

Louis II the Younger was the King of Italy and Roman Emperor from 844, co-ruling with his father Lothair I until 855, after which he ruled alone. Louis's usual title was imperator augustus , but he used imperator Romanorum after his conquest of Bari in 871, which led to poor relations with Byzantium...

 (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

Charles the Bald

Charles the Bald , Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia , was the youngest son of the Emperor Louis the Pious by his second wife Judith.-Struggle against his brothers:He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder...

; and in the year 876 he was in Pavia

Pavia

Pavia , the ancient Ticinum, is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It is the capital of the province of Pavia. It has a population of c. 71,000...

 among the 18 bishops that elected the same Charles II the Bald King of Italy.

9th or 10th century: addition of two towers

Probably, in the 9th century, after the reconstruction (or rather, but according to Busigani less probable, in the 10th century) there were two towers or campanili

Campanile

Campanile is an Italian word meaning "bell tower" . The term applies to bell towers which are either part of a larger building or free-standing, although in American English, the latter meaning has become prevalent.The most famous campanile is probably the Leaning Tower of Pisa...

 at the side of the apsis of Santa Reparata; of these the excavations have found the massive foundations. It is likely that the towers had defensive functions, because in the 10th century there were frequent invasions on behalf of the Magyars into Tuscany. In Northern Italy, the use of the two towers at the flanks of the apsis is only found at the end of the 10th century; in France, Switzerland and Germany it is documented until the first quarter of the 11th century and these are the examples the constructors drew from.

Additions in view of the Council of Florence

On June 4, 1055 pope Victor II

Pope Victor II

Pope Victor II , born Gebhard, Count of Calw, Tollenstein, and Hirschberg, was Pope from 1055 to 1057. He was one of a series of German reform Popes.-Life:...

 opened the first council of Florence, where 120 bishops and the emperor Henry III were united, opened in Santa Reparata. Gerard de Bourgogne (deceased in 1061) had been the bishop of Florence for 10 years, and became pope under the name of Niklas II without leaving his chair in Florence. The city underwent several sudden changes in status in the second half of the 6th decade of the 9th century: Florence went from città della marca (a provincial center) to città dell'impero ("imperial city") and then back again to città della marca (Volume 1, Davidsohn p. 231).
It seems that in view of the council of 1055, several activities werde carried out:
- widening of the crypt
- adding of two apside at the sides of the major apsis
- construction of an arcade, of which the foundations were found, the foundations of eight pilasters or columns, at about 13 metres outside the facade of Santa Maria del Fiore.
In any case, since it is documented that Pope Nicholas II

Pope Nicholas II

Pope Nicholas II , born Gérard de Bourgogne, Pope from 1059 to July 1061, was at the time of his election the Bishop of Florence.-Antipope Benedict X:...

, who was present in his Florentine diocese

Diocese

A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

 from November 1059, consecrated the churches that were reconstructed to Santa Felicita and from San Lorenzo

Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze

The Basilica di San Lorenzo is one of the largest churches of Florence, Italy, situated at the centre of the city’s main market district, and the burial place of all the principal members of the Medici family from Cosimo il Vecchio to Cosimo III...

, we have no document relating to the consecration of Santa Reparata by the pope or bishop. As far as the baptistery is concerned however, there is an inscription on a panel from the 17th or 18th century, on which it is reported to be consecrated to San Giovanni on 6 November 1055. But if the additions were made before the council, it seems likely that Nicholas II had consecrated Santa Reparata when he was still bishop. The apses are from the romanesque age

Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...

 because the way they are constructed in respect with the foundations of the two towers, especially the southern one, makes it likely that these were brought down at this occasion. 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

Presbytery (architecture)

The presbytery is the name for an area in a church building which is reserved for the clergy.In the oldest church it is separated by short walls, by small columns and pilasters in the Renaissance ones; it can also be raised, being reachable by a few steps, usually with railings....

.

As far as the arcade is concerned, little is known about it from the finding of the foundations of the columns. Still, with the added arcade, the space between the Baptistery and Santa Reparata is reduced to about 17 or 18 metres. The two columns of porphyry

Porphyry (geology)

Porphyry is a variety of igneous rock consisting of large-grained crystals, such as feldspar or quartz, dispersed in a fine-grained feldspathic matrix or groundmass. The larger crystals are called phenocrysts...

, were originally placed at six metres distance to the eastern gate in memory of the occupation of the Balearic Islands

Balearic Islands

The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...

 in 1115 and stayed there until 1333.

It is likely that the facade of Santa Reparata was decorated with polychromous marble just like the Baptistery. 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 the 8th of September 1296 the cornerstone

Cornerstone

The cornerstone concept is derived from the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation, important since all other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure.Over time a cornerstone became a ceremonial masonry stone, or...

 was laid to 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

Fresco

Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...

 with a pietà

Pietà

The Pietà is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus, most often found in sculpture. As such, it is a particular form of the Lamentation of Christ, a scene from the Passion of Christ found in cycles of the Life of Christ...

. At the time, the antique works at the level of 1.05 metres above the Roman groundlevel were covered by 85 cm of earth, on top of which the cobblestone pavement was laid at 1.90 metres above Roman groundlevel. 80 cm above is the marble pavement of Santa Maria del Fiore.

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