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The church of Santa Elena, once dedicated to Saints George and Zeno, was built in the 9th century on the ruins of the ancient cathedral as a single-nave church, reserved for the canons of the cathedral. The existing sacred building dates back to the 12th century, but has undergone significant modifications, including the transformation of the apse (previously semicircular) into a square layout in 1573 by the architect Bernardino Brugnoli. On the inside, visitors can admire a 15th-century wooden chancel and an altarpiece by Felice Brusasorci dating back to 1579.
The church is famous because on 20 January 1320, Dante Alighieri delivered the lecture Quaestio de aqua et terra, a kind of treatise on geography and geology based on the beliefs of the time.
