Basilica di Sant'Antonino, Minor baroque basilica in Sorrento, Italy.
The Basilica di Sant'Antonino has a Romanesque grey tuff facade divided by a cornice and pilasters, with the bell tower set into its left side. Inside, a Latin-cross plan with three naves is divided by six arches on granite columns, most reused from Roman buildings. The blue ceiling with gold rosettes carries three canvases by Giovanni Battista Lama painted in 1734.
The basilica was built in the 11th century on the site of a 9th-century oratory dedicated to Saint Antonino, partly incorporated into the new church. Its position near the city walls, where the three main roads into Sorrento met, was chosen because the saint's remains lay there. Marble from pagan temples and Roman coastal villas was reused in the construction. In 1608 the Theatine Fathers took over and gave the church its baroque character; the facade and bell tower were rebuilt in 1668.
The basilica is dedicated to Sant'Antonino, the city's patron saint, whose remains are kept inside. The church also holds two reliquaries made in 1608, one with seventeen relics of Saint Baculus and one with twenty-one relics of Saint Placidus, moved here from Sorrento Cathedral between 1659 and 1679. The wooden choir behind the main altar carries canvases by Giacomo del Pò from 1685.
The basilica sits in central Sorrento near Piazza Tasso and is easy to reach on foot from the main streets. It welcomes visitors throughout the year during regular hours and accommodates both tourists and those attending worship.
In the small portico before the church door, on the right, an urn holds the bones of a whale that, according to local legend, had swallowed a child later saved through Sant'Antonino's intervention. Beside it stands another urn with the remains of rector Francesco Gargiulo.
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