San Giorgio Church

Salerno, Italy

San Giorgio (St. George) is the most beautiful Baroque church existing in Salerno, rich in frescoes of the highest quality. It was part of the convent of Benedictine nuns, now a barracks of the Guardia di Finanza and Carabinieri. It is one of the oldest monastic settlements of Salerno, which dates back to the early ninth century. To this period belong the remains of an apse frescoes, recently discovered in the church. At the end of the sixteenth century in San Giorgio are transferred all the nuns of the other Benedictine monasteries in the city (St. Sophia, St. Michael and St. Mary Magdalene).

In 1711 the monastery was expanded with a new project elaborated by Ferdinando Sanfelice, the most famous Neapolitan architect of the first half of the eighteenth century. The interior is richly covered with murals and canvas paintings.

Among the other paintings in the church of great importance: The Virgin and Child with Saints and a nun praying by Andrea Sabatini, dated 1523, The Martyrdom of Saint George in capolatare dating back to the early decades of the seventeenth century, three paintings depicting San Gregorio Magno, the Holy Family with St. John, The Vision of St. Nicholas of Bari dated 1669, artworks by Giacinto De Populi, the Archangel Michael, dated 1690 by Francesco Solimena, some canvases portraying the Virtues, by Paolo De Matteis, dating from the early eighteenth century. Of particular value is the high altar in marble inlay with bas-reliefs and sculptures.

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Address

Via Duomo 19, Salerno, Italy
See all sites in Salerno

Details

Founded: 9th century AD
Category: Religious sites in Italy

More Information

www.livesalerno.com

Rating

4.7/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Leo Liu (13 months ago)
Very cute. Small but beautiful! Worth the visit.
Ugo Terzi (Golfo di Salerno) (14 months ago)
San Giorgio, to which the church of the same name belongs, is one of the oldest monastic complexes in the city of Salerno, from the Lombard era, whose cultural influence can also be seen in the choice of dedication to the figure of a warrior saint. The first certain information dates back to a diploma from 819 which mentions a "cella Sancti Georgi infra salernitanam civitatem", dependent on the Benedictine Monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno. The entrance to the church goes almost unnoticed, as it is simple and linear. The external portal leads to a rectangular vestibule, divided into two parts by a round arch resting on two powerful pillars. The actual church is accessed by a stone portal from the Renaissance period, commissioned by the abbess Lucrezia Santomagno, which is striking for its refined wooden doors of an intense olive green color and golden friezes. The church has a single Latin cross nave covered by a completely frescoed barrel vault, equipped with four side chapels. At the intersection between the nave and the rectangular transept, onto which two other chapels open, the dome rises, also frescoed. The floor is covered with majolica tiles decorated with acanthus leaves, small flowers and a black and white micro-checkerboard geometric motif, under which lies a secret kept for centuries. In fact, under the floor of the current building, the original Lombard nucleus is preserved, revealed by a mechanism that allows the opening of five trapdoors arranged along the nave. What presents itself to the eyes is an evocative spectacle, capable of arousing an indescribable emotion: with the opening of the floor, a piece of history, of the city's past, still so vivid and current, comes to light. It is an apse frescoed with colors such as ocher, black, red. In the upper part there is a geometric braid motif, in the lower part a theory of Saints.
Martina Paja Groselj (15 months ago)
Very special small church in a narrow street.
filippinilisa (15 months ago)
Was beautiful old church, plenty of murals and statues. I got a cumulative ticket with the other churches in Salerno.
Paola Valitutti (2 years ago)
The church, once part of the early medieval monastery of San Giorgio, is one of the two most beautiful Baroque rooms in Salerno. The major artists of the time such as Angelo and Francesco Solimena worked there. Below the current floor are the remains of the abbey church. Turning your back to the altar you can see a mirror, through which, from the upper choir, the nuns followed the celebrations. It is often used for classical music concerts, given the splendor and special acoustics. To visit
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