San Giuliano, Rimini, Renaissance church in Rimini, Italy
San Giuliano is a Renaissance church in Rimini, rebuilt between 1553 and 1575 on the site of an 11th-century Benedictine abbey. Its flat facade has four Tuscan pilasters supporting a triangular pediment, and a brick bell tower stands to the left. Inside, a single nave with four side chapels per side leads to an apse holding Veronese's Martyrdom of San Giuliano.
The church was built between 1553 and 1575 and replaced an earlier structure from the 9th century. Over the centuries this location became an important religious center for the city.
The name San Giuliano comes from the cult of Julian of Antioch, which spread by the 13th century. The church keeps a Roman sarcophagus that pilgrims scratched, believing its powder miraculous; coins found inside range from Constantine to Innocent X. The relics were moved into an urn beneath the main altar on 8 June 1910.
The church stands in the centre of Borgo San Giuliano, on the western bank of the Marecchia. The flat facade is best read in raking morning light, when the four Tuscan pilasters and the metope-and-triglyph trabeation cast shadows. Inside, the single nave has four recessed chapels per side; the Bittino polyptych is in the third chapel on the left, while the Veronese altarpiece closes the apse.
A marble sarcophagus with the remains of a saint arrived here in the 10th century, giving the building added spiritual importance. This relic drew pilgrims to the site over many centuries.
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