Santo Stefano is a church in Genoa

Genoa

Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....

, northern 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...

. Located on a hill overlooking the central Via XX Settembre, it is one of the most outstanding examples of Romanesque architecture

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,...

 in the city.

The church had been closed for much of the 20th century, until the restoration of the year 1946-1955, when it was reconsecrated.

History

The church was built in the Middle Ages as part of an abbey, in the place where previously a 6th century small church, entitled to St. Michael Archangel, was located. The most ancient document mentioning Santo Stefano dates from 965, although some scholars attribute its foundation to Theodulf, bishop of Genoa, in 972, who rebuilt it after a Saracen

Saracen

Saracen was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to a people who lived in desert areas in and around the Roman province of Arabia, and who were distinguished from Arabs. In Europe during the Middle Ages the term was expanded to include Arabs, and then all who professed the religion of Islam...

 inroad.

It became a parish only eventually, in an unknown date, anyway after 1054. The abbey was held by Columbanian

Columbanus

Columbanus was an Irish missionary notable for founding a number of monasteries on the European continent from around 590 in the Frankish and Lombard kingdoms, most notably Luxeuil and Bobbio , and stands as an exemplar of Irish missionary activity in early medieval Europe.He spread among the...

 monks of Bobbio

Bobbio

Bobbio is a small town and commune in the province of Piacenza in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. It is located in the Trebbia River valley southwest of the town Piacenza. There is also an abbey and a diocese of the same name...

 from 972

972

Year 972 was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* The city of Satu Mare, Romania is founded.* Otto II marries Theophanu, Byzantine princess....

 to 1431, when Pope Boniface IX

Pope Boniface IX

Pope Boniface IX , born Piero Tomacelli, was the second Roman Pope of the Western Schism from November 2, 1389, until October 1, 1404...

 turned it into a commenda

In Commendam

In canon law, commendam was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice in trust to the custody of a patron...

. In 1497 a chapel with a marble choir was added to the church. In 1535 the monastery was demolished, replaced by another in the mid-17th century.

The abbey was cared by the Olivetans from 1530 until 1776.

The parish territory included the houses of Cristopher Columbus who, according to the tradition, would be baptized here.

Architecture

Santo Stefano is on a single nave, with a superelevated 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....

. Under the latter is the 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....

, which would be the original nucleus of the church of St. Archangel. The dome is now in brickwork; it was rebuilt in the 14th century by abbot Niccolò Fieschi, and is octagonal in shape. The lower section of the bell tower is of uncertain dating, but is commonly deemed to be antecedent to the current church, and that it was probably used as a defensive structure.

The old church was to be replaced by a new Neoromanesque-style edifice from the 19th century. The latter was however almost destroyed by Allied bombings during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.