Santa Reparata

Santa Reparata is the former cathedral of Florence, Italy. Its name refers to Saint Reparata, an early virgin martyr who is the co-patron saint of Florence. The Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore was constructed over it.

Ever since the 3rd century there was an area in the north of Florence which was dedicated to Christianity and up to the Middle Ages represented the most important religious center of the city. From the 6th century onwards, a building complex called 'the sacred axis' was constructed in east-west direction (from the Piazza dell'Olio to the area of the apsis of the Duomo), which was traditionally considered the cult area in Late Antiquity, protected by existing Roman walls. The place included the Bishop's palace, the Baptistery of San Giovanni, a hospital, a parsonage, a graveyard, and three churches: Salvatore al Vescovo, San Michele Visdomini and Santa Reparata. The main point within the sacred axis was Santa Reparata, a sacral building of paleo-Christian origin which was probably the first construction of this building complex. The bones of Saint Zenobius (born about 328) were transferred to Santa Reparata at an unidentified time (according to most scientists it happened in the 9th century). At this time Santa Reparata became the new seat of the bishop, which had been in Basilica of San Lorenzo before that time.

The oldest legends are related to one single event, the invasion of the Ostrogoths under Radagaisus:

This last legend was important for the dating of the building. Still, the episode of the bone transferral is dated to the 9th century by most scientists, because the version according to which the transfer occurred in the 5th century is based on a tale by bishop Andrew, who in turn attributed the legend to the Milanese bishop Simplicianus, who, according to Andrew, wrote a biography of the saint. This biography turned out to be a fake written around 1130.

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Wikipedia