Chiesa di San Sebastiano

The Church of San Sebastiano Martire in Caserta has seven centuries of layered history. First recorded in 1295 among hermit friars and later part of an Augustinian convent, it was reworked in the eighteenth century with interventions attributed to Luigi Vanvitelli and his circle.

Why it matters

Records of the church date to 1295, when it was associated with the Romitani Scalzi. Its history is tied to the Augustinian convent that once stood around it. The present building is described as neoclassical, with important interventions attributed to Luigi Vanvitelli and his circle. San Sebastiano is the principal patron saint of Caserta and the church is a focus of civic devotion.

What to notice

The building combines an older conventual church with eighteenth-century redesign and nineteenth-century finishing. The parish adopted the name Church of Saint Sebastian Martyr in 1925. The church stands on Largo San Sebastiano in the historic centre.

Context and history

The site's documented story begins with the hermit friars of the late 13th century and passes to the Augustinians, whose convent gave the complex its form for centuries. A fire in 1783 destroyed the parish church of Saint Sebastian and set in motion construction of the new cathedral. The displaced parish first moved to the ancient church of the Annunziata. The surviving church of the Augustinian complex was redrawn in the eighteenth century, with interventions attributed to Vanvitelli and his workshop. The patronal title of Saint Sebastian Martyr was formalised in 1925.