Piazza Santo Stefano, Bologna

Piazza Santo Stefano and the adjacent complex of churches known as the Sette Chiese (Seven Churches) occupy a large irregular piazza in the southern historic centre of Bologna, a short walk east of Piazza Maggiore. The complex is one of the most architecturally and spiritually remarkable in Emilia-Romagna: seven interlocking churches built and modified between the 5th and 13th centuries to replicate, on a symbolic level, the holy sites of Jerusalem, including the Anastasis (Church of the Holy Sepulchre). The oldest structures date to the 5th century, when Bishop Petronio ordered the construction of a group of churches to house relics brought back from Jerusalem. The visitor enters through the Romanesque facade of the Basilica dei Santi Vitale e Agricola (5th century), passes into the Oratorio di Pilato with its 8th-century Lombard stone courtyard basin known as Pilate's Basin (in which Pilate supposedly washed his hands — a tradition, not a historical claim), and proceeds into the extraordinary circular Church of the Santo Sepolcro, a direct symbolic replica of the Anastasis in Jerusalem with the tomb of San Petronio at its centre. The Cortile di Pilato opens onto further small chapels with Romanesque wall paintings and medieval funerary monuments. The complex gives a sense of layered devotional history found in almost no other Italian site; it has been a place of continuous worship since the 5th century. The piazza outside is one of Bologna's most beloved public spaces, lined with medieval porticoes and cafes, and is particularly atmospheric in late afternoon when the western light catches the terracotta and stone of the church facades. Entry to the churches is free.