Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta

The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta in Sant'Agata de' Goti combines an eighteenth-century interior with a Romanesque atrium and crypt. Reused columns and carved capitals preserve traces of the church's medieval fabric.

Why it matters

The church's history reaches back to the late tenth century, when it was founded under Bishop Madelfrido. It was restructured in the twelfth century and rebuilt after the 1688 earthquake, with major works between 1728 and 1755 under Bishop Muzio Gaeta. It served as the cathedral of the diocese until the see was transferred to Caserta in 1986; it is now the diocese's co-cathedral.

What to notice

The atrium has three Romanesque portals and reused Roman stonework, including an inscription associated with Octavian Augustus and the establishment of a veteran settlement in 42 BCE. Fragments of opus Alexandrinum flooring survive near the choir. Beneath the transept, the crypt's cross-vaults rest on reused columns whose capitals carry carvings of sirens, horsemen, satyrs and fish. Wall paintings include Saint Christopher, the Madonna, the Crucifixion and the Adoration of the Magi. A painted wooden ceiling made in 1878 depicts scenes connected with the martyrdoms of Sant'Agata and Santo Stefano.

Context and history

The eighteenth-century rebuilding gave the church its present three-aisled form. The walnut choir, dating to about 1650, is signed by intarsia master Alessandro De Rosa, who also made the main wooden door. The entrance organ was built by Donato Abate in the 1740s with inlay by Andrea Genovese. Works in the side chapels are attributed to Tommaso Giaquinto, Lorenzo Fontana and Giovan Battista Antonini. The church became a co-cathedral following the reorganisation of the Sannio dioceses in 1986.