Archaeologists identify early Christian church previously only known about through letters

By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Monday, October 26, 2026

Archaeologists in northern Italy have identified the likely site of an early Christian church that St. Jerome described in a letter in A.D. 396, along with a nearby building believed to have been the bishop’s palace in the ancient city of Altino.

The discovery, announced Oct. 15 by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, provides physical evidence of Altino’s early Christian heritage after centuries in which the church was known mainly through historical accounts.

Excavations in September and October 2026, combined with evidence gathered in 2025, allowed researchers to identify the church and what they believe was the bishop’s residence.

“For the first time, we can say with a very high degree of confidence where the church and the bishop’s palace of Altino stood. Written sources told us they must have existed; now we have archaeological evidence to support this,” Diego Calaon, the excavation director at Ca’ Foscari University, said in a translated statement.

“This analysis allows us to tell the story of the transition from Altino to Torcello and Venice in a new way: not as a sudden flight, but as a long, managed transformation in which the ancient city and its inhabitants actively shaped economic and political decisions,” Calaon added. “At the same time, the buildings and spaces of ancient Altino became a source of materials that helped create a new way of inhabiting the lagoon.”

The university is conducting the excavation with the Altino Archaeological Park and the National Archaeological Museums of Venice and the Lagoon.

Historical references to Altino’s church appear in the writings of St. Jerome, an early Christian scholar and theologian. His Letter 60, written in A.D. 396 to Heliodorus, who is identified as Altino’s first bishop, describes the young priest Nepotian’s devotion to caring for the church.

Jerome’s account mentions the building’s altar, walls, floors, curtained doorways and sacred vessels. The letter’s date matches the period when archaeologists believe the church was built.

Until now, researchers had not pinpointed the building’s location.

The newly identified structure is a rectangular hall measuring about 30 meters by 20 meters, or roughly 98 feet by 66 feet. Its foundations date to between the late fourth century and the first half of the fifth century.

The building faces east and does not line up with the surrounding Roman street grid. It also lacks an apse, the rounded recess commonly found at one end of a church. According to Ca’ Foscari University, the design is consistent with architectural traditions in the northern Adriatic region, including those found at the ancient city of Aquileia.

Researchers identified the structure by reassessing archaeological evidence from the Roman and Late Antique periods. Foundations, along with trenches left where building materials had been removed, helped them link remains uncovered in earlier excavations to evidence from the latest dig.

The excavation also revealed a large building just east of the church that researchers believe served as the bishop’s palace.

The structure had a portico, or covered porch, along with internal partition walls and annexes. Its heavy foundations suggest it may have had two stories, though researchers have not worked out every detail of its original layout.

According to the university, the upper floor may have housed clergy members, while the ground floor may have included burial spaces reserved for bishops or other prominent people. Remains of Late Antique mosaics helped shape that interpretation.

Researchers have yet to find the complex’s baptistery, where baptisms would have taken place, but they believe it may lie in unexplored parts of the insula, or city block.

One notable feature of the complex is its foundations, which include paving stones taken from Roman roads. The stones, made of trachyte, a hard volcanic rock, were laid upside down.

Roman law protected roads as public infrastructure. Researchers said the reuse of those stones suggests the bishop held considerable public authority in Altino, reflecting the church’s growing role in governing the city.

Excavations in the 1980s and earlier had uncovered parts of the complex, but researchers were able to connect the scattered evidence through a broader analysis of the foundations and the archaeological layers beneath them.