The EASE social event will be held on June 19th and will include a guided tour to the Cathedral of Salerno, with its portico, the romanesque bell tower, and the crypt, followed by the conference dinner at the nearby Temple of Pomona.
Salerno Cathedral (or duomo) is the main church in the city of Salerno and a major tourist attraction. It is dedicated to Saint Matthew, whose relics are inside the crypt. The Cathedral was founded by Roberto the Guiscard when the city was the capital of the Principality of Salerno and was consecrated by Pope Gregory VII in 1084. The most striking external feature is the bell tower (mid-12th century), with small arcades and mullioned windows, standing 56 m high and in Arabic-Norman style. It contains 8 large bells. The façade has a Romanesque portal with Byzantine-style bronze doors from Constantinople (1099), with 56 panels with figures, crosses, and stories from Jesus’s life. The entrance has a four-sided portico with 28 antique columns whose pointed arches, with lava rock intarsia, show the influence of Arab art, and contains a series of ancient Roman sarcophagi. The crypt is a groin-vaulted hall with a basilica-like plan divided by columns.
The temple of Pomona, despite some doubts about it, is from the Roman period, when the city of Salerno, home to several temples (dedicated to Bacchus, Venus, Juno, and Priapus), received the title of “College of Augustali” demonstrating the great importance during the Roman period. The temple of Pomona is dedicated to the goddess of fruitful abundance (Patrona pomorum) and is the only temple of Roman origin that has survived to this day. The temple has been incorporated into the Archbishop’s palace and consists of a large hall divided in two by a colonnade of ionic columns joined together by a Gothic lancet arch. The capitals, always Ionic style, consist of four heads of the goddess Pomona and a square plate crowning of the capital formed by concave faces. Parts of the flooring also survived, the attic with a central round arch, a section of the foundations, some lancet windows, and a wall plaque.
Location
Piazza Alfano I,84125
Salerno
Italy