Basilica of San Simplicio

Basilica of San Simplicio tickets: which one to buy

The basilica is free to enter and there is no ticket for anything. A small archaeological area beside it, with Roman and Punic burials, is fenced and visible from the street. Olbia is the ferry and airport gateway to the Costa Smeralda and most visitors pass through rather than stay; the church is a ten-minute walk north of the centre, behind the railway line, and is easy to reach on foot.

Guided walking tours of Olbia include it and cost a moderate amount. Nothing needs booking. The feast of San Simplicio in mid-May is the town's own festival, with a procession, horse races and fireworks over several days, and is the one time the church is at the centre of local life rather than at the edge of it. The parish office beside the church can arrange access outside normal hours for groups.

Visiting Basilica of San Simplicio: what to see

The basilica was built in the late eleventh century on a low hill that had been a burial ground since Carthaginian times, over a Paleo-Christian church and near a Roman temple. It is the most important Romanesque building in Gallura and belongs to the first wave of Pisan influence in Sardinia: grey granite blocks cut locally, a plain front divided by pilasters with a triple window, and an interior of nave and two aisles on granite columns, several of them Roman spoils taken from earlier buildings.

A marble slab set into the facade, carved with what may be Christ entering Jerusalem or a clash of knights, came from somewhere else entirely. Two damaged frescoes in the apse show San Simplicio, martyred bishop of Fausania in the fourth century, and Victor, who held the see after 595. Roman milestones and inscribed stones are set into the walls inside, reused as building material when the church went up.

Basilica of San Simplicio opening hours and the best time to go

Open daily with a long break in the middle of the day and shorter hours out of season; the church is a working parish and closes for mass. Olbia is hot and busy in July and August, when the airport handles the whole Costa Smeralda season, and quiet from October to April. The granite interior is cool. The mid-May festival fills the streets for three days. Dress modestly. Photography is allowed. Allow twenty minutes.

The archaeological museum by the port covers the Punic and Roman town and holds a reconstructed Roman ship, and the Nuragic well temple of Sa Testa is fifteen minutes out of town by car. Olbia's ferries from Civitavecchia and Livorno dock a few minutes away, which makes the basilica an easy first stop on arrival. The church stands apart from the modern centre and the surrounding streets are residential, so there is nowhere to sit and wait if it is closed.