The collegiate church of Santa Sofia is the mother church of Giugliano in Campania, in the diocese of Aversa: it stands beside the Corso Campano, the main axis of the centre, on a tree-lined little square, and here on 23 February 1632 Giovan Battista Basile, author of La gatta Cenerentola, was buried.
What to see
The façade, with sober late Mannerist lines and ending in a pediment, has the classic division into pilasters on a plinth, a large central window and a fine portal in piperno stone of the 17th century; on either side of the entrance are two marble plaques, one for Basile and the other for Pope Urban VIII. The bell tower, on three storeys, is of the 18th century and rises on a base where interesting 15th-century sculptures stood, now replaced by copies because they were stolen: one showed a pregnant woman with the inscription Cuma and became in time the coat of arms and symbol of the city of Giugliano, the other two a radiant sun and Saint Sophia with the pen of wisdom. The dome is noticeable for the two-colour yellow-green glazed tiles, different from the rest of the exterior, rests on a windowed drum and ends in a Rococo-style lantern, topped by a metal globe. The interior, particularly bright, is perhaps one of the greatest Baroque-Rococo achievements north of Naples: in the single nave, with five chapels on each side, the great 17th-century organ by the carver Fabrizio Cimino, the majolica floor and the coffered ceiling framing canvases by Nicola Cacciapuoti, of the 18th century, stand out.
The church was built from the middle of the 16th century where a small church of Santa Sofia and an oratory of the Body of Christ had stood; some enlargements are attributed to a design by Domenico Fontana, who seems to have been inspired by Sant'Andrea della Valle in Rome, as the single-nave plan with chapels, the transept and the great dome at the crossing show. From 1730 to 1745 Domenico Antonio Vaccaro was commissioned to complete it, and he redecorated the interior in stucco and designed the marble pulpit. In the presbytery the balustrade of polychrome marbles enclosing the apse stands out, and the high altar was commissioned by Francesco Grillo, feudal lord and duke of Giugliano. To the left of the nave the Chapel of the Treasure of San Giuliano was built in 1631, when the saint's relics arrived in the city from Sora, kept in silver reliquaries. From the chapel in November 1998 eight canvases by painters of the circle of Andrea Vaccaro and Pacecco De Rosa, with saints and scenes of martyrdom, were stolen, some found again in 2015. In the church there is also a Fall of Saint Paul by Giuseppe Marullo, signed and dated 1634. In 2024 work began on the partial rebuilding of the dome.
Visiting
The church is on the Corso Campano, in the centre of Giugliano; opening hours and service times should be checked with the parish, as should the current state of the work on the dome, because the sources consulted give neither.
Our editors' tip
Look at the base of the bell tower: the 15th-century sculptures are copies, because the originals were stolen, but the pregnant woman with the inscription Cuma is the symbol of the city of Giugliano.
