The cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta is the main Catholic place of worship of Andria, seat of the bishop of the diocese of the same name and a national monument; the Holy Thorn is venerated there, which according to tradition belongs to the crown of thorns of Jesus, together with the remains of Saint Riccardo, bishop of Andria, while in the crypt rest two wives of Frederick II of Swabia, Isabella II of Jerusalem and Isabella of England.
What to see
The façade, designed by the architect Federico Santacroce, dates from 1844; the upper part was altered in the restorations of 1960-65 on the Romanesque model, with a rose window and single-light windows. The bell tower, fifty metres high, stands on a square-based tower of the Lombard period, raised by the Normans up to the octagonal turret, whose spire ends in a greenish rooster, symbol of Saint Peter. The interior has three aisles joining the transept, with a richly decorated wooden ceiling, and ten side chapels, five on each side, reopened by the restorations of 2005-2008. The «cappellone», of the end of the 15th century, is dedicated to the patron Saint Riccardo, with sixteen panels and ten bas-reliefs in local stone recalling miracles and episodes from his life; on the right of the presbytery the chapel of the Holy Thorn keeps the relic given to the cathedral by Beatrice of Anjou on the day of her wedding to Duke Beltrando del Balzo. In the deep apse is a splendid wooden choir from the church of San Domenico, a rare document of wood culture between the late Gothic and the early Renaissance in Apulia. The crypt, or church of San Pietro, is reached from the transept: it has two cross-vaulted aisles with reused columns, a fresco of Christ Pantocrator with the inscription «Lux ego sum mundi» and the Swabian tombs of Isabella II of Jerusalem and Isabella of England.
The cathedral was built by Geoffrey of Hauteville, lord of Andria, over an earlier church dedicated to Saint Peter, which today corresponds to the crypt; the sources give the end of the 11th and the beginning of the 12th century. In the mid-14th century it was sacked by the army of King Louis I of Hungary; in 1414 Duke Francesco I del Balzo had it enlarged, with a great pointed arch between the lower and upper presbytery and the building of the apse. On 13 February 1503 the thirteen Italian knights led by Ettore Fieramosca swore «Victory or Death» in the chapel of San Riccardo, before the Challenge of Barletta: a plaque outside recalls it. The church was altered in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, when the façade and the outer portico were built.
Visiting
The cathedral is in Andria; opening hours and service times, and access to the crypt, should be checked with the diocese or the parish, because the sources consulted do not give them.
Our editors' tip
Go down into the crypt for the Swabian tombs of the two Isabellas and the Christ Pantocrator, and look outside for the plaque of 13 February 1503 recalling the oath of the thirteen knights before the Challenge of Barletta.
