Basilicas in Venantius Fortunatus’ Miscellanea

Abstract

The article deals with the basilicas in Venantius Fortunatus’Miscellanea. Indeed, the eleven books of Carmina by the italic poet who lived for many years in the merovingian France, describe several samples of such buildings dedicated to prayers and worship of God and saints. The attention is drawn not in particular to their architecture, but to the role and function they usually held in the frame of a society where Christianity attempted to overcome still notable opposition of unchristians. Artificer of these holy buildings was the bishop, whom Venantius gives a lot of praises to, seeking that same way of still and rich life which he could reach when probably he was no longer young.