The basilica of San Simplicio in Olbia is the oldest and most important religious monument in north-eastern Sardinia and a witness to the spread of Christianity on the island. It was a cathedral until 1839, has been a parish church since 1955, and in 1993 Pope John Paul II gave it the title of minor basilica. It is dedicated to Saint Simplicius, held to be the town's first bishop and a martyr under Diocletian, today patron of the diocese of Tempio-Ampurias and of Olbia.
What to see
The church stands on a small hill once outside the walls, used for centuries as a burial ground, and is built mostly of local granite, with brick enlargements. Archaeological investigation has identified five building phases: at first it was a shorter and lower three-nave building with a timber roof; then the aisles received barrel vaults, the roof was raised, the hall was lengthened by two pairs of arches and finally the façade was moved to its present position. The first phase predates the eleventh century, the lengthening dates from the end of the eleventh century, perhaps at the initiative of the legates of Pope Alexander II or Gregory VII, and the last phase probably from the thirteenth century; the final style is Lombard Romanesque. The existence of an early Christian church built between 594 and 611, known only from a seventeenth-century source, is doubtful.
The façade is divided into three by two pilasters and has a triple-light window with marble colonnettes: on the left one a small face and a snake are carved, on the right one a knot; the capitals of black lava stone bear birds of prey with clearly legible plumage and acanthus leaves. On the left, under a small arch, is set a reused marble slab with a horseman wielding a long weapon against an armed angel, perhaps from a sarcophagus or from the ciborium of the original church. The bell-cote on the right is a later addition. The interior has three naves divided by columns alternating with piers; in the apse two faded frescoes show Saint Simplicius and Saint Victor, bishop of the town after 595. Under the altar is the saint's polychrome and gilded wooden reliquary bust, from the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century, with the relics found in 1614 in excavations of the crypt and brought back here in 2001 after centuries in the church of San Paolo.
Visiting
The basilica is in Olbia and houses the Museum Civitatense, part of the diocesan museum system. Hours for the church and the museum should be checked with the parish or the diocese.
Our editors' tip
Beneath the basilica is a museum-necropolis: 450 tombs with grave goods from between 750 BC and AD 1300, the remains of the ramp of the Roman temple of Ceres that stood in this area, two wells from the Greek phase of the town with amphorae and jars, and the lime kiln used to build the church.
