Concattedrale di Santa Maria Argentea

Norcia's Concathedral of Santa Maria Argentea has been rebuilt after repeated earthquakes. The mid-sixteenth-century church was severely damaged in 2016, and its reconstruction project was formally handed over in September 2024.

Why it matters

Santa Maria Argentea is Norcia's cathedral church and, since the diocese was united with Spoleto, co-cathedral of the Archdiocese of Spoleto-Norcia. The earthquake of 30 October 2016 brought down its facade. The permanent reconstruction project was approved in April 2024 and formally handed over in September of that year, with about 7.4 million euros allocated from the 2016 earthquake fund.

What to notice

The mid-sixteenth-century building had a gabled facade of white stone framed by pilaster strips, a round window and a portal crowned by a tympanum and flanked by niches. Set into the left flank is the shortened fifteenth-century portal of the earlier pieve of Santa Maria. A low socle swells into a buttress on the same side, added after the earthquakes of 1703 and 1730. The apse preserves a Roman inscription interpreted as a reference to a guild of craftsmen. The present stone bell tower, with round-headed openings and pilaster strips, dates to 1869. The interior follows a three-nave plan ending in a single apse.

Context and history

Local tradition holds that Bishop Feliciano of Foligno consecrated a former pagan temple here as the basilica Argentea in the third century. The early-medieval pieve of Santa Maria remained until 1554, when it was demolished to clear the ground for the Castellina fortress. The present church was built between 1560 and 1574 under Bastiano Perosino, who left the works in 1564 after disputes with the building committee. Earthquakes in 1703 and 1730 caused further damage; the sacristy was rebuilt in 1766. The church became the cathedral when the diocese of Norcia was restored in 1820, and received the title of co-cathedral after the see was united with Spoleto.