What to see · Caivano

More places of interest

• Chiesa Parrocchiale di San Pietro

  The church of San Pietro Apostolo, in the centre of Caivano, is the oldest in the town, and by tradition is called the «parrocchia maggiore», the senior parish; it belongs to the diocese of Aversa. The date of its foundation is not known, but its origins are in all likelihood medieval: the first document concerning it dates from 1308. Other information comes from the pastoral visits of the sixteenth century, among them that of Bishop Pietro Orsini in 1596; in the Renaissance the church was completed with the choir. The main rebuildings are of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with stucco decoration inside and out: part of its present appearance goes back to the one ordered by the parish priest Nicola de Falco in 1738.

  What to see

  The façade is in two registers, the second set slightly back; the portal is framed in stucco, and above it is a rose window between two small round openings. The bell tower, detached from the church, is of tuff, in four registers: the lowest is the oldest. The interior has a nave and two aisles of four bays, with side chapels; the Baroque decoration is grafted onto the Renaissance layout, and the floor is of white Carrara and grey bardiglio marble. Worth noting are a round chapel dedicated to the Immaculate, Byzantine in taste, and the small Gothic door of the sacristy.

  The works include some paintings attributed to Luca Giordano, the altar of the Monte Crocifisso by Giovanni Battista Mazzotti and the ceiling decorations by Gennaro Greco. The fifteenth-century tomb of Archbishop Marino De Li Paoli, late Gothic, is attributed to an unknown Neapolitan marble-worker.

  Visiting

  After the earthquake of 1980 the church was consolidated and restored. Opening and Mass times should be checked with the parish.

  Our editors' tip

  Look at the tombstones, datable between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries: those of the Rosano family are attributed to a pupil of the Neapolitan school of Antonio Baboccio da Piperno, and that of the young notable Francesco Alessandro d'Urso bears the date 1611.

• Santuario Maria Santissima di Campiglione

  The sanctuary of Maria Santissima di Campiglione, in Caivano, is one of the oldest in the diocese of Aversa. The earliest information goes back to a letter of Pope Gregory the Great of 592 to the bishop of Atella; in 1208 the church is recorded as a modest chapel. In the fifteenth century, according to tradition because of a miracle, the chapel grew and became a place of pilgrimage. In 1559 it was entrusted to the Dominicans, who kept it until the Napoleonic period; in the first decades of the nineteenth century it was enlarged, with a sacristy and an organ, thanks also to the priest Filippo Pepe, who between 1824 and 1843 paid for part of the works out of his own pocket. From 1902 it was served by the Carmelites.

  What to see

  The heart of the sanctuary is a fresco dated 1419, by a still unknown Neapolitan painter whom some scholars identify as Colantonio: a rare Ascension of Christ with the apostles and the praying Virgin, known as the Madonna di Campiglione. Below are the twelve apostles, life-size, each with his name at his feet; in the centre the Virgin in Byzantine-style dress, with a jewelled belt and a crown; above, within a mandorla held by cherubs, Christ blessing with an open book. An inscription in Gothic lettering records the commission and the date.

  The façade is in two orders, with three portals below, three rectangular windows and a pediment above, between twin bell towers. The interior has a nave and two aisles, with a large barrel vault painted in recent times and frescoed side chapels.

  Visiting

  The restoration of the exterior was finished towards the end of 2023. Opening and Mass times should be checked with the sanctuary.

  Our editors' tip

  The miracle that tradition sets in 1483 concerns a devout woman and her son, condemned to death for a murder he had not committed: on the day of the hanging the mother prayed before the image, the Madonna is said to have moved her head away from the wall, and at that moment the viceroy's pardon arrived. The feast, traditionally on the second Sunday of May, now lasts about six days, with a procession, illuminations and fireworks.

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