Abbazia di San Michele Arcangelo

On Procida's walled Terra Murata promontory, the Abbey of San Michele Arcangelo preserves a thousand years of island history. Its gilded wooden ceiling, paintings, silver statue of the patron saint and historic library make it both a major artistic landmark and a living religious centre.

Why it matters

A Benedictine monastery stood here by 1026, on the defensive headland where Procidans gathered against raiders from the sea. Saint Michael the Archangel, patron of the abbey and of Procida, gives the church a central place in the island's spiritual life. The complex was repeatedly damaged and rebuilt; much of its present architecture dates from the sixteenth century, with an older surviving section from the fifteenth.

What to notice

Look up to the seventeenth-century coffered wooden ceiling covered in gold leaf. At its centre is Luigi Garzi's 1699 canvas of Saint Michael defeating the rebel angels. Four paintings by Nicola Russo, dating to 1690, crown the old wooden choir; one shows the saint protecting Procida during a Saracen raid. A wooden statue of Saint Michael from 1606 stands in the choir. In a side chapel, the saint's silver-and-gold statue was made in 1727 by Nicola and Gaetano Avellino to a design by Antonio Domenico Vaccaro.

The museum route includes an eighteenth-century Neapolitan nativity scene, made largely of wood and terracotta figures, and a historic library whose oldest book is dated 1534.

Context and history

The abbey’s early history is associated with a Benedictine monastery and the dedication Sant’Angelo; its present dedication is to Saint Michael the Archangel. Cardinal Innico d'Avalos d'Aragona, lord of the island and commendatory abbot, gave the church its principal architectural imprint in 1561. In 1563 he fortified the settlement with walls and watchtowers and renamed it Terra Murata. The abbey remained the religious and cultural heart of the community, hosting worship, study and processions.