Basilica dei Santi Felice e Fortunato - Facade, Pre-Romanesque church facade in Vicenza, Italy

The Basilica dei Santi Felice e Fortunato is a Pre-Romanesque brick church at the end of Corso San Felice Fortunato in Vicenza, with a plain and sparsely decorated facade. A large circular window occupies the center, while two stone tablets are set into the wall on either side.

A Roman pagan necropolis once stood outside the walls along the Via Postumia on this site. After the Edict of Milan, Vicenza's Christians built a first single-hall church of 24 by 16.5 metres between the mid and late 4th century, its floor marked today by a band of red marble. After the relics of Saint Felix were brought from Aquileia around 380, a three-aisled basilica measuring 45 by 22 metres was built between the late 4th and mid-5th century, with a 7-metre narthex and a quadriporticus, giving a total length of 86.5 metres. The present Romanesque appearance results from the 12th-century rebuilding and 20th-century restorations.

The facade shows the plain brick style common to early medieval churches in northern Italy, with no columns or rich decoration. Visitors who look closely can see how deliberately ornament was avoided, giving the building a sober and direct character.

The facade is easily seen from Corso San Felice Fortunato and can be visited without any special preparation. Standing directly in front of the building gives the clearest view of the stone tablets and the circular window.

The two stone tablets on the facade record repair work carried out in 1425 and again in 1674, naming the interventions directly on the wall. It is rare for a building to carry written evidence of its own repair history on its outer surface in this way.