The Cathedral of Gravina in Puglia

The actual building is a great Renaissance construction with a large surface area of 50 metres in length. The height of the nave is 20.90 metres, the aisles are respectively 12.70 metres high. The main façade is divided into three longitudinal parts. The central part is characterised by a Renaissance-style rose window of twenty-four finely decorated spires with the figure of the Virgin Mary in the middle. The majestic bell tower, built on the remains of a Norman tower, collapsed several times due to earthquakes or lightning, but was always promptly rebuilt. Today it has a square ground plan with a typical Baroque onion-shaped roof.
Fourteen columns with valuable capitals of Ionic and Corinthian order, each one different from the other, mark the interior. The magnificence and importance of the Cathedral will not divert you from admiring the precious Baroque ceiling of cut and gilded wood framing five paintings. Behind the central altar you can see the beautiful choir made of solid walnut wood completely inlaid in 16th century style. The side aisles are enriched by beautiful 18th-century altars of the Neapolitan school in polychrome marble and mother-of-pearl decorations. At the end of the right aisle there is the baptismal font at which the future Pope Benedict XIII was baptised in 1650. The altar dedicated to St Michael the Archangel, patron saint of the city, is next to it, with the statue of the Archangel.
La visita alla Basilica si completa con la cripta sotto la facciata principale della Cattedrale, raggiungibile dall’esterno. Meglio conosciuta come Chiesa della Santa Croce o ‘Lamia dei morti’, fu inizialmente utilizzata come luogo di sepoltura comune; più tardi papa Benedetto XIII ordinò che i prelati fossero sepolti nella navata centrale.

The Cathedral stands imposingly in Benedetto XIII Square.