SAN PIETRO IN CIEL D'ORO
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Church built by the Lombard king Liutprando to house the remains of Saint Augustine.
Legend has it that this church was built by the Lombard king Liutprando to house the remains of St Augustine brought from Sardinia in the 8th century. The remains of the Lombard church are still visible in the crypt, but the present building dates back to the 12th century. Consecrated in 1132, the poets Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio speak of it in their works. On the outside there is a beautiful brick façade, with a sandstone portal decorated with a bas-relief and a frieze of small majolica arches decorating the upper part. The building takes its name from the fact that in the past the vaults were painted blue and decorated with stars drawn in gold leaf.
The interior, with its three nines separated by pillars with carved capitals, is one of the city's pride and joys. The relics of the saint (354-430) are said to be kept behind the main altar in an imposing carved coffin - theArk of St Augustine . A 13th-century marble masterpiece by the Maestri Campionesi, it is one of the finest examples of Gothic sculpture preserved in Lombardy, decorated with 95 statues and 50 bas-reliefs. In the apse, a 19th century painting reproduces the ancient gold mosaic that gave the church its name. To the right of the high altar is the tombstone of King Liutprando. Finally, in the sacristy, there is a beautiful vaulted ceiling painted in grotesques (second half of the 16th century) and a 17th century painting of St. Augustine talking with St. Jerome.
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