The Duomo (Cathedral) of Salerno is dedicated to St. Matthew the Evangelist and was founded at the request of Robert Guiscard in 1076, the year that the Normans conquered the town of Salerno after a 7 month siege.

The current entrance, flanked with a sculptured lion and lioness is a modification of the former medieval entrance. The doorway leads to an atrium with bare columns and raised arches echoing Islamic style. Around the sides of the atrium is a series of Roman sarcophagi.

The campanile (bell tower), built in the middle of the 12th century at the request of William of Ravenna, archbishop of Salerno stands on the southern side of the atrium.

The main entrance to the church is a Byzantine Bronze door. The door was made in Constantinople consisting of 54 panels within a marble portal.

The layout of the church resembles that of other basilicas built during the early centuries of Christianity. The hall of the church is divided into three naves separated by two colonnades. The transept, which opens onto three apses, is slightly elevated due to the crypt underneath. The crypt houses the body of St. Matthew plus other saints and martyrs native to the town of Salerno. A century after the church was built a mosaic floor of marble tesserae forming geometrical patterns was laid in the presbytery area.

Situated in the main nave of the church are two ambos. The Guarna ambo, situated on the left of the nave was donated by archbishop of Romuald II Guarna in the second half of the 12th century. The ambo is decorated with phytomorphic and anthropomorphic elements. Above the arches, bas-reliefs depict an angel holding the Gospel (symbol of St. Matthew) and an Eagle (symbol of St. John).

The Ajello ambo, situated on the right of the nave is twice the size of the Guarna one. The ambo is decorated with floral and zoomorphic capitals. There are two groups of sculpture, one depicting an eagle clawing at a man held by a snake and the other depicts two youths on two lions. A third piece of relief sculpture is the Paschal candle supported by four lions. The candlestick is decorated with three successive sculptured and mosaic bands with the top showing a dance of men, women and wild animals.

The church as it appears today is the result of work done during the baroque period. Neapolitan architect Guglielmelli worked on the church after the earthquake of 5th June 1688 and a few decades later Roman architect Carlo Buratti also worked on it. The roof reconstruction by Ferdinando Sanfelice also dates to those years.

To the left of the nave some stone steps lead down into the crypt which was inaugurated in March 1081. The relics of apostle Matthew, patron saint of the city, were buried in in the presence of Alfano I, Emperor Michele and Duke Roberto il Guiscardo.

The crypt was transformed in the 17th century due to the degraded state in which it was built. The work was commissioned to Domenico Fontana who was also responsible for the crypt decorations.

The paintings depict the Storie di S. Matteo, by N. Haccherino in polychrome marble by Franceso Ragozzino.

The tomb of St. Matthew is central to the crypt with altars on both the north and south sides. The northern altar has a small opening through which it is possible to see the sepulchre of St. Matthew. The tomb is covered by a double canopy with a centrepiece of two twin Statues of St. Matthew created by Michelangelo Naccherino in 1606. The Saint is depicted as he writes the Gospel with a book resting on his left knee and a pen on his right hand. At his side an angel hands him an inkwell.

A sign at the entrance to the crypt tells the legend of how St. Matthew’s relics arrived in Salerno*.

The Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew, while he was preaching in Ethiopia, was martyred and buried in the mountainous area by the order of the king Irtaco. Gavino, a cavalier, a citizen of Vella and the prefect of the Valentinian militia, dislocated the body of Saint Matthew from Brittany in the year of our Lord 352. From the year of the Jesus Christ 412, after that Lucania and other territories had been occupied and completely destroyed by the barbarians and the inhabitants slaughtered and forced to escape, the body of Saint Matthew stayed in the land of Casalicchio for 600 years.

It stayed there until the Apostle appeared in the dream of the pious woman Pelagia and her son Atanasio, in which he gave them the right instructions to find him. After this happening they found the body of the Saint in a place between the ruins covered with oaks. Then the bishop Giovanni took this big and incomparable treasure to enrich his Cathedral in Capaccio.

Finally, Gisulfo, prince of Salerno, who triumphed against the Saracens had the precious relics transported his city, almost as a gift from heaven.

*I have used a combination of the English translation on the sign and a Google translation to English from the Italian original.

• Sources of information are a signboard outside the cathedral and the cathedral website.

The Duomo of Amalfi, situated at the top of a long flight of steps, dominates the city’s main square. During the Middle Ages Amalfi was one of four powerful Maritime Republics of Italy. It traded prolifically with other countries, in particular the Orient and the Maghreb. The monument complex of the Cathedral (Duomo) is a testament to that past. Ascending the steep flight of steps gives the tangible impression of reaching up towards God. At the top of the steps are two bronze doors with a fresco of St. Andrew above that were cast in Constantinople in 1057.

The bronze doors are the main entrance to the Cathedral; however visitors today gain access to the Cathedral complex via a side door leading to the Paradise Cloister. Stepping into the cloister I noticed how peaceful and quiet it was in stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of Amalfi itself. The cloister, Oriental in style, is the ancient cemetery of the nobility of Amalfi. A small Mediterranean garden is situated in the middle of the cloister courtyard and round the edges of it are sarcophagi, marble fragments with decorated mosaics and small funerary chapels. The Cathedral bell tower which is Moorish in style can be seen through the cloister arches.

To one side of the cloister is a door which takes you into the small Corsano family chapel with its fourteenth century frescoes depicting the Death of the Virgin and also Saints and Prophets. The chapel leads to the Basilica of the Crucifix. The Basilica, recently restored back to a single nave, was once dedicated to  Our Lady of the Assumption and subsequently to the Saints Cosmas and Damian.

The oldest part of the nave was the first Cathedral of Amalfi, dating to the sixth century AD. The church was extended during the tenth century and when the new cathedral was built adjacent to the original church, the two were connected by a long colonnade, remnants of which can be seen in the southern wall. The styling gives the nave the appearance of a Christian mosque. The nave was altered in the fifteenth century to make way for the Paradise Cloister and construction of small family chapels for wealthy families, a few of which have survived with fourteenth and fifteenth century frescoes.

Since 1996 the Basilica has been home to the Diocesan Museum which displays sacred objects from the treasures of the Cathedral of Amalfi. The collection displays many objects of interest including relics in caskets, silver skull reliquaries, a wooden fragment of Christ’s Cross, a casket containing a Holy Thorn, monstrances, vestments, sculptures, paintings and liturgical items. In the apse of the Basilica hangs a stunning fourteenth century Crucifix.

Steps from the Basilica lead down to the crypt where relics of the body of St. Andrew are kept. St. Andrew was crucified in the Greek city of Patras and his body was taken to Constantinople. Later, during the Fourth Crusade, it was moved to Amalfi by the papal legate Cardinal Pietro Capuano. The relics were placed in the crypt in May 1208.

The current style of the crypt dates to the seventeenth century. Beneath the main altar lies a crystal ampule from which on the vigil of St. Andrew’s Feast Day (and occasionally at other times) a substance called ‘Manna’ is collected. This is a dense liquid which sweats out of the tomb of the Apostle. The event first happened in Patras then in Constantinople and now in Amalfi.  Above the altar is a bronze statue of St. Andrew the Apostle which is flanked by a pair of marble statues of St. Stephen and St. Lawrence representing the Western and Eastern churches. Behind the altar are large images of St. John the Baptist and St. Andrew.

The back of St. Andrew’s skull is currently in the Reconciliation Chapel of the Cathedral so that it can be venerated by the faithful.

Steps from the crypt lead up to the cathedral which I found to be rather dark and slightly oppressive. However the guidebook describes it as a wonderful, inspiring spectacle. The current baroque style has obscured most of the original Romanesque structure. The panelled ceiling and canvases adorning the walls depict scenes from St. Andrew’s life. Both the left and right aisles have chapels containing interesting artefacts including a catafalque bearing a sculpture of the dead Christ, which, on Good Friday, is used in a procession along the streets of Amalfi.

NB:

• I have used the guidebook of the The Diocesan Museum of Amalfi as a source of information.
• Other relics of St. Andrew of the Apostle are claimed to be held in St Andrew’s Cathedral, Patras, Greece, St. Mary’s Cathedral in Scotland and perhaps in other locations.

The Crypt is the most substantial remnant of St Wulfstan’s Cathedral. The semi-circular end of the crypt reflects the original shape of the main Cathedral above before it was extended in the thirteenth-century. Although the crypt is smaller than when it was built it is still an impressive work of late eleventh-century architecture.*

*Information source – The Worcester Cathedral guidebook

The original Norman east end of the Cathedral was built upon a crypt, which remains virtually unchanged. It contains a well, underneath the High Altar, which my pre-date the present Cathedral.*

This superb low-vaulted stone crypt, which floods in rainy months, dates from the 11th century, the earliest phase of building the Cathedral. Here you’ll find Antony Gormley’s mysterious life-size sculpture of a solitary man, Sound II, sometimes standing up to its knees in water.

*from a sign board by the crypt