The basilica of the Corpus Domini is the main church of Maddaloni, a minor basilica since 22 June 2003. It stands in the Uliveto area, below the medieval castle, between piazza Umberto I and piazza Giacinto De Sivo. It began with a confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament: on 12 September 1546 the prior Rinaldo Tennerelli, a nobleman of Maddaloni, gave the basilica of Saint John Lateran a plot of land to build a chapel with the same privileges. Having become too small, the church was rebuilt from its foundations from 1721 and consecrated in 1765; the work ended with the bell tower by Orazio da Salerno.
What to see
The church is a Latin cross, with a nave, side chapels and a tall dome lit by eight large windows; the stucco is by the Neapolitan Michele Santullo. The high altar, in fine marbles, was designed in 1762 by Luigi Vanvitelli and made by the marble worker Antonio Di Lucca, who also made the two transept altars of 1775. Behind it is the wooden choir of 1761, with two rows of stalls. Above the altar is the large Last Supper altarpiece by the Maddaloni painter Pompeo Landolfo, surrounded by scenes of the Passion; also his are the Marriage of the Virgin in the right transept, the Madonna dell'Arco in the left and the Annunciation in the Corbo chapel.
Under the triumphal arch, on the right, is the tomb relief of the founder Rinaldo Tennerelli, in his prior's robes. In the left transept a case holds the statue of Saint Michael the Archangel, the town's patron, during the September festivities.
Visiting
The latest restoration followed the 1980 earthquake. Mass times and opening hours should be checked with the parish.
Our editors' tip
Some of the panels you see in the chapels are photographic reproductions: in July 1992 a theft took away Landolfo's Christ Carrying the Cross, Madonna del Carmine and Deposition and a Madonna of Mercy attributed to Fabrizio Santafede, and the parish priest of the time put copies in their place.
