saint michael's abbey

The Abbey is located in the centre of the medieval village of Terra Murata.

It was built by the Benedictines in the eleventh century, and in the second half of the fifteenth century, the Abbey was granted in commenderies to cardinals.

The religious building, built with a basilica plant, is divided in two levels: the upper level is dedicated to the church; the lower level includes the abbey complex, in turn developed on three levels.

The church has three naves. The central nave was built in the seventeenth century, and it is covered by a coffered, wooden and pure golden ceiling, with the painting - depicting San Michael defeating Satan – at its centre.

The sacred heritage kept inside the building includes:

• Seventeen altars.

• A seventeenth-century wooden choir located in the central apse.

• Four paintings of the Neapolitan painter Nicola Russo made in 1690, including the canvas depicting the event of 1535, in which St. Michael Archange protected the island of Procida from the Saracens.

• The ancient baptistery, visible to the left of the main entrance.

• The painting of the first altar of the left aisle, depicting the Dormitio Virginis, which can be dated between the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century.

• The statue in wood and pure gold depicting the Madonna del Carmine, located in the homonymous chapel, along the left aisle.

• The silver statue of St. Archange located in the homonymous chapel of the left aisle.

• The reconstruction of the Grotto of Lourdes in the third chapel of the left aisle.

• The canvas of the "Judgment of Saint Lucia before the tyrant of Syracuse" to the right of the main entrance.

• The relics of St. Porfirio Martire kept in the chapel of the Holy Spirit along the transept.

• A Saracen anchor along the transept.

• An 18th-century bellows organ.

• Finally, the 18th century marble paving.

In the Abbey’s basement, (currently not open to visitors) there is a Museum Complex divided in three levels:

• In the firs level there is an 18th century permanent crib, of the Neapolitan School, with pastors.

• In the second level there is a library, realized in the mid-sixteenth century by the Cardinal Innico d'Avalos d'Aragona.

• In the third level there is the ossuary, achievable by trap doors, still visible.