If
you walk down Via Santo Stefano, you'll get to the square
of the same name lined with porticoes.
There are seven churches here all built on the site
of an old pagan temple dedicated to the goddess Isis,
which make up the Olivetan Benidictine Monastery.
The different buildings stand for the sites of Passion
of Christ.
These buildings were made in the 11th and 13th centuries
recycling old materials, partly Roman and Byzantine.
Besides the Chiesa del Santissimo Crocefisso, with its
1019 crypt and inscription dedicated to the Roman goddess
Isis, there is the Chiesa del Calvario, centrally planned,
containing a 13th-century copy of the Holy Sepulchre
where the relics of Saint Petronius, patron of Bologna.
The other important buildings are: the Chiesa dei Santi
Vitale e Agricola, planned like a basilica, which contains
two engraved sarcophagi with the reliquies of two 4th
century
martyrs from Bologna and the Chiesa della Trinità
(13th century). Inside there is also the Cortile di
Pilato (13th century)
and the Cloister with its loggia on two floors, a typical
feature of Romanesque art in Emilia.
