Sant'Efisio, Romanesque church in Pula, Italy.

Sant'Efisio is a proto-Romanesque church just outside Pula, its semicircular apse facing the beach near the ruins of Nora. It is built of sandstone and limestone blocks, many reused from Nora, and its bare exterior walls carry only a Punic funerary stele set into the south side. The west facade is preceded by a porticoed atrium added between the 17th and 18th centuries. Inside, three barrel-vaulted naves are divided by sturdy piers carrying round arches; at the end of the left nave the hemispherical dome of the old sacellum rises from the floor, reached by a stair at the end of the right nave.

The present church was built in proto-Romanesque forms of Franco-Iberian import after 1089, when the judge of Cagliari Costantino I Salusio II de Lacon-Gunale gave the title of Sant'Efisio di Nora to the Victorine monks of Marseille. It probably rose over an early medieval sanctuary held to be the site of the saint's martyrdom and burial. His relics were stolen by the Pisans in 1098 and returned to Sardinia only in 1886.

The festival of Sant'Efisio culminates in a procession that ends at the ruins of Nora, next to this church, not at the church itself. The church's apse faces the beach a short distance from those ruins, and the annual vow procession from Cagliari reaches this coastal site.

The church sits just meters from the sea and welcomes visitors throughout the year. Comfortable shoes are recommended since the coastal location can be windy, and you may want to plan your visit around daylight hours to fully appreciate the stone architecture and surroundings.

The relics were stolen by Pisan raiders in 1098 and returned to Sardinia only in 1886, so for nearly eight centuries the church stood empty of its saint. The funeral stele of Punic origin walled into the south side is reused stone taken from nearby Nora.