Church of Saint Michael Archangel

The cathedral of Caserta Vecchia overlooks Piazza Vescovado, which also serves as its churchyard. Severe, imposing but very elegant on the outside, characterized by three portals that recall ancient iconography, which stand out on a gray and yellow exposed tuff façade, laid in an alternating manner, such as to form a beautiful decorative motif with intertwined arches. The Cathedral is equally evocative inside, with a Latin cross plan and three naves. There is also a pulpit built in the 17th century by reusing fragments of 13th century ambos. In short, a wonder to visit

The church of San Michele Arcangelo stands in the square of the small medieval village of Caserta Vecchia, built in 1110 in Romanesque style with gray Campania tuff. The cross-shaped interior with the central nave covered with trusses is bordered by 18 columns, note the capitals, all different from each other. Also interesting is the high bell tower (32 metres) located laterally to the right of the church.

The village of Casertavecchia can in all respects be a place apart, a fairytale place. Whoever arrives on the cliff on which it is built, crossing territories between Naples and Caserta, feels a leap back in time: the Castle of Casertavecchia (for example) was built around 861 AD, by the counts of Capua, and was then fortified by the Normans and Swabians. In its original structure it had 6 watchtowers and was majestic, but between attacks, earthquakes and neglect, only ruins remain. And what remains can give strange sensations, such as to give rise to the legend of the ghost of Countess Siffridina. The Castle of Casertavecchia dates back to 861 and was built by the Count of Capua, and over the centuries, under the dominion of the Swabians, Normans and Aragonese after Casertavecchia became the episcopal seat, it increasingly gained the appearance of a fortress in which to find shelter from enemy attacks. It is located on the highest point of the hill on which Casertavecchia stands and is inserted in the medieval village that surrounds it. This Castle was once a real keep, with 32 meter high watchtowers, each with its drawbridges and a moat around it. From 1500 onwards, the village and the Castle were gradually abandoned. Today the Castle is open to the public only for some events, only a few ruins can be admired, yet the charm and stories of these places remain: this is the largest tower in Europe, after the tower of Aigües Mortes in Provence. Until 1841, the cathedral of the diocese of Caserta was the Church of San Michele Arcangelo located in this medieval village of Lombard origin, located on the top of a hill, at 401 meters, on the slopes of the Tifatini Mountains. Construction began after 1113 by Bishop Rainulf, and the work continued under his successor Nicholas. Severe and elegant on the outside, the cathedral is particular on the inside. It has a Latin cross plan of 46 meters in length, where the three naves are separated by eighteen columns coming from a Roman temple, with Corinthian capitals. The front part of the Cathedral is made of lava tuff, inside there is an inlaid frieze with lozenge motifs. It is decorated with animal and floral motifs typical of medieval artisanal production which symbolize faith in Christ. The central portal is characterized by a sculpted arch that rests on half-protruding lions, while above the central portal it is possible to appreciate a large sculpted window..

The Cathedral of Casertavecchia is dedicated to San Michele Arcangelo. The main entrance is in Piazza Vescovado, a second entrance is on the street next to the bell tower. Its construction dates back to the 12th century, but its current appearance is the result of various renovations and adaptations The interior has three naves; the columns come from ancient Roman buildings. The Duomo square is surrounded by bars and restaurants.

The church represents an exemplary episode of the Romanesque period in Campania as it simultaneously presents influences coming from Sicily with others coming from the Romanesque and early Christian tradition. We thus find characters and above all decorative elements derived from the complex architectural style present in the Sicilian Romanesque in which Norman elements coexisted with other Arab and Byzantine elements and whose influences arrived in Campania via Amalfi. Other elements, for example the characters of the sculptural equipment, appear to come from the north or from the Apulian Romanesque. The construction scheme instead seems to derive from a more local context and in particular from Montecassino, then at the height of its role as a spiritual and cultural center which spread a typology corresponding to that of the early Christian basilica tradition in the southern area of Rome. The building is built in "Campanian gray tuff", an ignimbrite similar to piperno, left exposed. Easily workable, it comes in the variety used in Casertavecchia with a prevalent gray color used, between the 12th and 16th centuries, also in Capua and Salerno. On the façade there are jutting shelves on which zoomorphic shapes, including lions, are represented in light marble which contrasts with the grey-ochre stone of the masonry. Such figured brackets are present in the Apulian Romanesque (Bari, Ruvo di Puglia). On the altar there is a wooden crucifix by an unknown author. In the small fourteenth-century chapel the frescoes have remained intact and in a niche in the perimeter wall of the church the polychrome sculpture of Maria Santissima Regina. The remaining walls, however, are today bare and without decorations as the medieval frescoes were destroyed in the Baroque age to make room for stuccos which were in turn removed in the 20th century. Between the nave and the transept, a fifteenth-century fresco of Sienese influence representing the Virgin and Child is also intact. The transept houses two fourteenth-century tombs inspired by the models of Tino da Camaino. The pulpit dates back to the beginning of the seventeenth century, but was created by reusing parts of the two medieval ambos dating back to the period of Bishop Stabile (early thirteenth century).

The church dedicated to San Michele Arcangelo is located in a medieval village of Lombard origin. Its foundation took place on the remains of a previous church dating back to 1113; in 1153 it was consecrated to worship. The church had a second construction phase during the 13th century with characteristics closer to the Gothic style. At the end of the seventeenth century, work was carried out to update the interiors to the Baroque style: the walls were decorated with stucco, destroying the medieval frescoes and various altars were placed against the walls of the side naves. In 1841, with the apostolic bull of Pope Gregory XVI, the diocese was transferred and the church lost its title of cathedral. In 1926 a radical restoration brought the building of worship back to its original Romanesque appearance