Pozzuoli Cathedral

Pozzuoli Cathedral, officially the Basilica of San Procolo Martire, stands on the promontory of Rione Terra in the old heart of the city. The building visible today is largely the result of 17th-century reconstruction, but the interior preserves the structure of a 1st-century Roman temple to Augustus — the original six columns of the temple pronaos are still standing, incorporated into the nave walls, their fluted marble shafts rising to the full height of the interior.

The temple was converted to Christian use in late antiquity and has remained a place of worship continuously for sixteen centuries. The fire of 1964 and subsequent restoration made the Roman origins far more visible than they had been — years of plasterwork and baroque decoration were stripped away, revealing the ancient structure that had been hidden inside the church. It is one of the clearest examples in Italy of the physical continuity between Roman and Christian religious space.

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The cathedral was seriously damaged by fire in 1964, and the restoration work that followed revealed the Roman temple beneath: the original columns of the Temple of Augustus are still standing inside the building, incorporated into the church walls, where they have been since early Christian converts adapted the pagan building for worship around the 5th century. What looks from outside like a 17th-century cathedral is actually a Roman temple that never stopped being used.