santuario, diocesano, Santuario Diocesano San Paolo Apostolo

On a rise overlooking southern Reggio Calabria, the church of San Paolo Apostolo, often called San Paolo alla Rotonda, commands a broad view of the city and the strait beyond. Built in the early 1930s to a design by a Palermo engineer, it was a long time coming to its full ecclesiastical status: consecrated only in 2001, seventy years after its inauguration, and raised to a diocesan sanctuary five years later.

The interior decoration, begun in the late 1950s, was not completed until the mid-1990s, a patient accretion of ornament that speaks to the slow, steady life of a parish. Modern in form, the church nonetheless anchors ancient traditions: its principal feast falls on the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul in June, while a second celebration in January marks the Conversion of Saint Paul, and a third in May recalls the Apostle’s legendary arrival in Reggio itself.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.