In the crypt of Viggianello's mother church three mummified priests sit on a bench, still wrapped in the gilded vestments they were buried in: the best known of the many burials that open beneath the floor. Above them the building has at least two ages. The plan is Byzantine in origin, but the church you enter today was enlarged and most probably rebuilt from scratch under the Bronzuto barony, in 1634. In a village where Byzantine country chapels can be counted by the dozen across the farming hamlets, this is the mother church, and Saint Catherine of Alexandria, whose relic is kept here, is the patron.
What to see
The interior is four centuries of commissions stacked on top of each other. The baptismal font is alabaster and dates from the 16th century, like the stone Madonna; the marble altar is attributed to the sculptor Palmieri and belongs to the 18th; the white marble stoups are 19th century. A cycle of frescoes by Alfonso Metallo runs along the walls, and among the paintings are canvases from the 17th and 18th centuries.
The wooden choir is 17th century, the pipe organ carries the date 1880. The wooden statue of the patron saint is dated to the Renaissance or earlier: together with the stone Madonna it is the oldest thing the church holds.
Visiting
You reach it on foot through the alleys of the old town; Palazzo Marino-Siniscalchi stands just below the church. Look at the alabaster font first, then raise your eyes to Metallo's frescoes and to the organ. The crypt is not walked through as freely as the nave: if you want to see it, ask at the parish. On 25 November, Saint Catherine's day, the village holds the fair that carries her name, which local sources trace back to very old origins.
Our editors' tip
On your way out, go down a few metres to the doorway of Palazzo Marino-Siniscalchi: carved in the stone is the coat of arms of a family that came from Genoa, where a Boemondo Marino was consul in 1146. The Marino lived in Viggianello until the mid-sixties, after which the palace passed into private hands.