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Chiesa di San Paragorio, Noli

Chiesa di San Paragorio, Noli historical timeline

Last updated on October 18, 2026

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There was a church here before this one. San Paragorio arose above a palaeochristian church; the Noli record describes the earlier structure as palaeochristian or early-medieval, and the excavations beneath found a necropolis.

The present building is eleventh-century. It is in Ligurian Romanesque style of that century. (Its own article's infobox says the twelfth; the article's body and the Noli article both say the eleventh, and the eleventh is carried.)

It was the cathedral of a republic's own diocese. San Paragorio was the first cathedral of the borgo and of its diocese — the diocese Noli obtained as part of the religious autonomy that came with becoming a republic in 1192.

In 1572 it lost the title. The cathedral title passed to the nearer and more central church of San Pietro, inside the walls. Seen from the other side, that is the year San Pietro stopped being known as the fishermen's church and took its dedication to the apostle.

In 1890 the Italian state took an interest. On 28 December 1890 San Paragorio was declared a national monument.

An earthquake prompted the restoration. Following damage, the church was restored at the end of the nineteenth century by Alfredo d'Andrade, who returned it to its original aspect.

And in 1972 the ground beneath it was read. The Istituto internazionale di studi liguri, directed by Nino Lamboglia, excavated here; Noli's record places the work between 1970 and 1975 and credits it with two sarcophagi in Finale stone and an octagonal baptismal basin of the sixth or seventh century.

Verified against Wikipedia, October 2026.

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Checked against Wikipedia — The church of San Paragorio at Noli is an important and historic site of Romanesque architecture, included in the list of Italian national monuments. The building is in Ligurian Romanesque style of the eleventh century, having arisen above a palaeochristian church -- finds from a necropolis were discovered in excavations by the Istituto internazionale di studi liguri under the direction of Nino Lamboglia in 1972 -- and it has a basilican plan of three naves, the crypt as an oratory, and a web of blind arches separated by thin pilaster strips, paired on the facade and in the major apse. Outside the central apse, between the arches and the pitch of the roof, are ceramic bacini in coloured ceramic used as decorative inserts, of Sicilian or North African provenance. On the left side are a double arcosolium tomb and a single one, all with pointed arches supported by columns; the single tomb has its arch made of alternating white and black stones, in typical Ligurian style, as is the pronaos over the side entrance. Inside are conserved on the high altar a contemporary wooden crucifix -- similar to the Volto Santo of Lucca and dating to the second half of the thirteenth century -- and a wooden cathedra of the thirteenth century, besides fine frescoes of the Trecento. It was declared a national monument on 28 December 1890, and following damage from an earthquake was restored at the end of the nineteenth century by Alfredo d'Andrade, who brought back to light its original aspect. It was the cathedral of Noli until 1572, when the title passed to the nearer and more central church of San Pietro., Noli was an ancient centre of the Ligures and a municipium in Roman times; its name is cited in documents of 1004 and 1005 as Naboli, deriving probably from Neapolis, the Greek-Latin for "new city". Some sources would have it arise as a colony of the Ligurian peoples of the Genuati and Sabazi in 317 BC, others hold it much older than Rome; it is however proved that settlements of Intemelii, Ingauni and Sabazi were present in Roman times and that the area was well defended by the ancient Ligurians thanks to its strategic position. The city was founded three times: the first on the summit of Monte Ursino, on which the castle of that name stands; the second in the area adjacent to the church of San Paragorio; the third within the present wall circuit., The Republic of Noli was constituted on 7 August 1192 by decree of Henry VI of Swabia and ended on 2 December 1797 with the Italian campaign of Napoleon Bonaparte. It was a maritime republic under protectorate and an oligarchic republic, a protectorate and ally of the Republic of Genoa, having separated from the Del Carretto marquisate of Finale; its head of state was a Podesta and its deliberative organs the Consiglio dei Consoli e dei Capi di casa, and it achieved religious autonomy by obtaining a diocese of its own. Its maximum area was 4 square kilometres, with a population of 1,500 in the eighteenth century; its currency was Genoese, its resources commerce, fishing and olive growing, its productions glass and warships, and it traded with the Byzantine Empire, France, Spain and England, exporting spices, salt and glass. Its territory covered the comune of Noli and nearby possessions including Spotorno, often contested with Savona, Orco Feglino, Mallare, Vado and the island of Bergeggi., The concattedrale di San Pietro at Noli, in piazza della Cattedrale, is the seat of the parish of that name in the vicariate of Finale Ligure of the diocese of Savona-Noli. Locally it is also known as the chiesa di San Pietro dei Pescatori, a name originating in the tithes on the proceeds of fishing on feast days, collected in the thirteenth century for the construction of the first religious structure. Only in 1572, with the transfer of the title of cathedral from the church of San Paragorio, did the ancient appellation change into today's dedication to the apostle Peter; to that period belong the adjoining bell tower, the perimeter walls of the church and the internal pillars. The building was transformed from the second half of the sixteenth century. There are also a processional cross in silver of 1417 and the Pallio di Sant'Eugenio of the fifteenth century. (October 2026).

Chiesa di San Paragorio, Noli historical timeline

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