Complesso Monumentale di Sant'Ilario a Port'Aurea

Sant'Ilario a Port'Aurea is an early medieval church beside Trajan's Arch in Benevento. Built over an imperial-era complex, it preserves a layered view of the city's Roman and Lombard past.

Why it matters

The church is dated by the Provincial Museum Network to between the late seventh and first half of the eighth century. Its name recalls the nearby Porta Aurea, the Arch of Trajan incorporated into Benevento's Lombard-era walls. The building was damaged in the 1688 earthquake and later used for agricultural purposes. The Province acquired it in 1974, restored it and reopened the complex in 2004 with the Museo dell'Arco.

What to notice

The church has an apsed hall divided into two bays of unequal length, covered externally by separate hipped roofs. Its bare, unpaved interior leaves underlying structures visible; a walkway crosses above remains of the Roman complex. In the surrounding meadow are ruins conventionally associated with the annexed monastery, including cisterns and wells.

Context and history

An older tradition places the church's origins as early as the sixth or seventh century, but the Provincial Museum Network gives the narrower late-seventh- to early-eighth-century date. The church served the district around the Golden Gate before it was damaged by the earthquake of 1688. The Province's 1974 acquisition began its modern restoration, and the Museo dell'Arco opened there on 8 December 2004 as part of the provincial museum network. The church's architecture and the archaeological remains beneath it preserve the complex's successive uses.