Chiesa di Santa Cristina

Santa Cristina has anchored Sepino's religious life since it was first documented in 1241. The church preserves the arm relic of the town's patroness in a silver reliquary, alongside painted canvases, an 18th-century organ and a crypt known as La Grotta.

Why it matters

The church is the principal parish church of Sepino's historic centre. Its devotion to Santa Cristina is reflected in the relic preserved in the Cappella del Tesoro and in the annual feast held on 24 July. The building has been altered by earthquakes and successive rebuilding campaigns.

What to notice

The church has three naves divided by arches on pillars with carved capitals. A 1679 inscription records work by stonecutters from Cerreto. Five large biblical canvases were painted by Amedeo Trivisonno in 1968; he also painted the dome's Doctors of the Church after it was built in 1846. The high altar in polychrome marble was consecrated in 1726. The Cappella del Tesoro, founded in 1609, houses the silver reliquary of Santa Cristina and eight copper reliquary busts. The crypt, founded in 1570, contains a wooden statue of the saint.

Context and history

The church is first documented in 1241. A late-9th-century origin as a private chapel of the Castellum Saepinii is considered possible, though no fabric from that phase survives. The campanile was rebuilt in 1824 after the 1805 earthquake and later received its distinctive wrought-iron crown, known as the Buttiglione. The town's feast for Santa Cristina is held on 24 July; January rites also commemorate the translation of the relics.