The Cathedral of Vieste was built in the second half of the XI century, about 100 metres from the castle. The castle had an eventful life and was destroyed and pillaged by the Saracens in the XVI century and hit by earthquakes, especially the disastrous one of 1646. The central body of the northern façade, where the side entrance is located, and, inside, a few Doric capitals over the colonnade are all that is left of the original building.
The Basilica has a classic Latin-cross plan, with one nave and two aisles divided by two roes of pillars each. Around the XIII century, some barrel vaults were made along the side walls to build a few chapels. The apses, which originally were semicircular in shape, were replaced by the choir and two chapels in the XIII-XIV century. The trusses on the nave were covered in the XVIII century by a tempera-painted wooden ceiling in Neapolitan baroque style. Outside, there is a beautiful late baroque belfry.
A Brief History:
Main Works:
In the central apse, a 1779 painting by Luigi Velpi portrays Jesus chasing the sellers out of the temple. In the presbytery, the XVII-century wooden choir and an eighteenth-century Crucifix; the statue of the Virgin of Merino in the XV-century chapel of the same name, of the Neapolitan school; the 1771 painting on the altar, of the Veneto school; the 1581 altarpiece of the Virgin with Child by the Genoa-born Michele Manchelli; the eighteenth-century baptistery in precious polychrome marble; the 1756 statue of the Virgin by N. Brudaglio.
Events:
Nowadays, the Cathedral houses the beautiful wooden statue of the Virgin of Saint Mary of Merino that is celebrated on 9th May every year by the whole village with great devotion and carried in procession on the shoulders.
Sources: By the editorial staff Updated on: 15/10/2010
Project created in collaboration with InnovaPuglia.
Regione Puglia
Regione Puglia