Cripta di San Zama

Religious buildings

Bologna

Photos by Massimo Brunelli Amici delle vie d'acqua e dei sotterranei di Bologna The story of the crypt is linked to the birth of the first Christian community in Bologna. It has long been believed that San Zama was the first cathedral, because in this sacred place were buried the remains of the first bishops of Bologna, starting with Zama himself. Most probably this area was one of the first Christian cemeteries where also the bishops of Bologna were inhumed because of the ban (until the fifth century) to bury the dead within the city walls. Faustiniano, bishop successor to St Zama, contributed to increasing the fame of the sanctuary by building a larger basilica, and changed the title of the church to Santi Naborre and Felice, martyrs of the Milanese Church, from which Bologna depended. All the bishops of the Bolognese diocese were inhumed here until the 8th-9th century (except San Petronio buried in the complex of Santo Stefano).