Chiesa di San Basilio, Romanesque church in San Basilio, Ariano nel Polesine, Italy

The Chiesa di San Basilio is a small Romanesque church in the hamlet of San Basilio, part of Ariano nel Polesine. It has a simple stone structure with a single nave and a semicircular apse; a marble column stands in a niche beside the apse. A 20th-century restoration returned its medieval appearance.

The Benedictines of Pomposa built the church in the 9th century on the site of an earlier structure, probably erected between the 4th and 5th centuries as a place of worship for the oldest Christian community in Polesine. A conservative restoration at the end of the 20th century returned it to its medieval appearance.

The name San Basilio comes from the saint to whom the church is dedicated. On the churchyard stands a sarcophagus tied to local historical and traditional stories, and in a niche beside the apse is an ancient marble column that ecclesiastical documents call miraculous.

The church stands in the hamlet of San Basilio, a short drive from Ariano nel Polesine in the Po delta. It is still used for services and open to visitors; the sarcophagus lies on the churchyard forecourt, and the marble column sits in a niche beside the apse, so both can be seen from outside.

The marble column cited in ecclesiastical documents as miraculous is not inside the church but in a niche beside the apse, outside. On the churchyard in front stands a sarcophagus tied to local historical and traditional accounts. The 20th-century restoration returned the building to its medieval appearance, the only one of its kind in the Polesine.