Bologna - Basilica di Santo Stefano

The "Basilica di Santo Stefano" known as "Sette Chiese" (= "Seven Churches") encompasses a complex of interconnected religious edifices, erected between the 5th and the 13th century.

According to tradition Saint Petronius, a bishop during the 5th century, built the first basilica. He actually wished a building that recalled the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

This church got severely damaged during the invasions of Hungarian troops in the tenth century. A century later Benedictian monks rebuilt the complex.

There are two cloisters, after having passed the smaller one, next to the Basilica del Sepolcro, named "Cortile di Pilato" ("Pilate's courtyard"), the visitor enters this large two storey cloister. Seen here is the tower "Chiesa del Crocifisso".