By 1297 the church of Sant'Ippolito already existed, but for four and a half centuries its story is mostly one of neglect: the records find it half-ruined, visited by bishops only towards the end of the sixteenth century and covered by continuous parish reports only from the middle of the seventeenth. The rebuilding came between 1750 and 1760, and what stands today is that church.
What to see
Very little survives of the earlier building, but what does is the most interesting part: the altar and the canvas of Sant'Ippolito on the apse wall, which came through the restorations and repainting that changed much of the interior from the middle of the twentieth century onwards. Older still are the white marble holy water basin and the two wooden confessionals, dated 1476: they were not made for this church, but come from the old San Giovanni in Lanero.
Visiting
The facade is bare, split into four sections by its decorative elements alone. The wooden doorway is framed in white marble; above it a recent mosaic by a local artist shows the martyrdom of the saint, torn apart by two horses pulling in opposite directions, and higher up sit a clock and a lunette with a stone cross. Inside, three bays marked by painted pillars on square bases lead to the presbytery, which a polychrome marble balustrade sets apart. The plan is the surprise: two naves, plus a stretch of a third added on the right at a later date, while the transept, as in other churches in Nizza, is reduced to almost nothing to make room for the sacristy.
Our editors' tip
Look at the mosaic first and the confessionals second: they are the two chronological ends of the church, the fifteenth century and the recent past, a few metres apart. And it is worth asking why the transept is missing: in Nizza that choice recurs, and the sacristy mattered more than the theatrical effect.
