The basilica named after the martyr Saturnino stands in a place that was the eastern suburban sector of Cagliari in the Roman era, inside an area that was part of a large necropolis that went from the Bonaria hill to the are of the modern Via Sonnino, and was used in a time period ranging from the late-Punic era to the Christian age. The burial area close to the church was home to various types of tomb: sarcophagi, mausoleums, cappuccina tombs, mound tombs, ground tombs, underground tombs (figs. 1-3). The necropolis was later used again by the Cagliari Christian community and housed both pagan and Christian tombs. Some epigraphs found in the San Saturnino site bear witness to the presence of tombs for Cagliari church religious figures, from around the 5th-6th centuries.

A short distance from the San Saturnino site, under the church of San Lucifero (built in the 17th century after the alleged tomb of the Cagliari bishop Lucifero who lived in the 4th century was found) are the remains of some burial areas known as “underground churches” or sacelli of Lussorio, Rude and Lucifero.

Fig. 1 - Pit tombs covered with stone slabs and bricks (photo by Unicity S.p.A.).

Fig. 2 - Limestone sarcophagus, with lid (photo by Unicity S.p.A.).

Fig. 3 - Mausoleum in the burial area of San Saturnino (photo by Unicity S.p.A.).