The church dedicated to Saints Cosmas and Damian is located in a small square in the historic center of Genoa, near the Molo area (Piazza St. Cosimo). The church is reachable only through narrow lanes, at the foot of the Castello hill, in the area where the urban settlement was developed in Roman times.
The church was founded in the 7th or in the 8th century, but evidence has been documented only since 1049. Its construction probably dates back to 1049, but it is believed that since the VII-VIII century in this area there was an oratory dedicated to St. Damiano, bishop of Pavia.
In 1296 the church came into possession of the relics of St. Damiano and his brother St. Cosma, which Nicolò Spinola and Enrico Mallone brought to Genoa from Constantinople.
Because of the French naval bombardment in 1684, the wooden truss roof was destroyed, replaced by a new covering with cross vaults in masonry1.
Other serious damages were caused during the Second World War by the bombings of November 1942, which hit the left side of the transept, the roof and one of the internal columns, restored in the years immediately following the end of the conflict2.
The facade and the exterior of the church
Alley behind the choir of Saint Cosimo
Tombstone of barbers and sandflies
HOC EST SEPULCRUM ARTIS CHIRURGORUM ET TONSORUM
THIS IS THE ART'S TOMB OF THE BARBERS AND OF THE SANDFLIES
The special dedication of the site of cult has led over time the members of the art of doctors to place their own sepulcher in the main nave.
The central nave
Cosmas and Damian's relics
- Photos and main text by Maria Teresa Giuffrè moc.liamg|erffuig.aseretairam#| and Vittorio Serini moc.liamg|yresottiv#| (December 2017)
- Located the item on this Google Map
Bibliography
- Saints Cosmas and Damian's Church official brochure
Webliography
- Italian Wikipedia page of the Saints Cosma and Damian's Church