Description of the attraction
The Cathedral of Casertavecchia was built in the 12th century, as evidenced by the inscription on the architrave. This is undoubtedly the most beautiful and important religious building in Caserta.
The building is a mixture of Romanesque-Apulian and Arab-Sicilian styles with elements of Benedictine architecture. The façade of the church is reminiscent of the beautiful Apulian temples, and its wonderful bell tower with bright colors resembles the Arab-Sicilian Cathedral of Amalfi. The façade is very simple - three spacious arched portals with a tympanum. The motif of small intertwining arches is repeated in the adjacent 13th century bell tower. The southern façade is decorated with marble rhombuses, while the opposite façade is decorated with ovals. Between 1206 and 1216, a three-span transept was built, and a century later, a tiburium.
Inside, the cathedral consists of three naves, which are separated from each other by 18 ancient columns with semicircular arches, and a semicircular apse with a pulpit. In the 17th century, the pulpit was redesigned using fragments of the original pulpit from the 13th century. Here you can also see two tombstones from the 14th century and beautiful frescoes, the creation of which is attributed to Bernardo Cavallino. There is a tombstone in the bell tower - it is believed that this is the tomb of Teodoro Mommsen. Above the cathedral's baroque marble altar is an 18th century canvas depicting the Madonna del Rosario with saints and a wooden crucifix from the second half of the 16th century. To the right of the cathedral is the Church of the Annunziata, a small and graceful Gothic structure from the late 13th century.
