San Giuliano Church
The
parish church
of San Giuliano, formerly church of the Benedictine monastery of
St Peter, situated in the centre of Borgo San Giuliano, where
the via Emilia begins, to which once corresponded the
Benedictine monastery of San Gaudentius, which stood at the
opposite main entrance of the city, on the outskirts of Borgo
San Giovanni, where the via Flaminia ends, has been completely
rebuilt in the sixteenth century by the monks of San Giorgio in
Alga. Venetian in taste, San Giuliano Church offers an
impressive barrel-vaulted interior and numerous noteworthy works
of art. In the third chapel on the left hangs the amazing
polyptych painted by Bittino da Faenza in 1409, which narrates
the legend of St Julian and the translation of his body
from Istria to Rimini in the Roman sarcophagus which is still
visible behind the altar of the church. In the apse, in the
centre of a moulded wooden cornice covered in gilding, it is
possible to admire the magnificent altarpiece depicting the
Martyrdom of St Julian, painted by Paolo Veronese in 1587.
In the remaining chapels are exhibited notable
seventeenth-century paintings, including two worth mentioning
altarpieces depicting The Annunciation by Elisabetta
Sirani, and St Peter Receiving the Keys by Pietro Ricchi.