Cathedral of Reggio Calabria

It is the city of the Bronze Statues of Riace, of the seafront defined by D'Annunzio as ‘the most beautiful kilometre in Italy’, of cultures that intertwine like the winds and waters on the Strait of Messina.

Reggio Calabria is this and much more and will give you great emotions and incredible discoveries. Let's visit its majestic cathedral dedicated to Maria Santissima dell'Assunta, the largest sacred building in Calabria, an identity symbol that reflects the city's characteristics: the church is sumptuous from an architectural point of view and stubborn and resilient, because despite wars, looting and earthquakes it remains, solid and imposing, a bastion of prayer and community encounter.

You will be immediately struck by the eclectic-liberty style façade in which medieval Romanesque and Gothic art blend. It is divided into three parts and has four octagonal pierced towers surmounted by crosses; in the central part there is a triple lancet window and above it a rose window. 

As you walk down the entrance steps, admire the sumptuous statues of St Paul (it was he who, according to tradition, converted the people of Reggio to Christianity), and St Stephen of Nicaea, the city's first bishop, sculpted in 1928 by Francesco Jerace (author of the monumental pulpit inside). The bell tower, almost thirty metres high, was completed in 1931.

The interior, accessed through three bronze portals, is a treasure trove of works of art. Look around: bundled columns, naves covered by wooden trusses decorated with two hundred swastikas (they symbolise the light of Christ's advent).

The three naves culminate in three polygonal apses and house eight chapels embellished with valuable works of art. At the end of the right aisle is the truncated column that, according to tradition, belongs to the Prodigy of St Paul; in the central apse stands the high altar decorated with a bronze bas-relief by Antonio Berti.

That's not all, indeed the certainly most impressive part of your visit to the cathedral is yet to come. It is the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, the most significant Baroque monument in the city, declared a National Monument for the preciousness of its polychrome marble inlaid with Florentine mosaic. It was built in 1539 by Archbishop Agostino Gonzaga and completed in 1655. In the corners, in eight niches, you can admire statues representing the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, the four Evangelists, and the two Eucharistic Doctors St Thomas and St Bonaventure, all works in white marble by Francesco Jerace and Concesso Barca.

Recently, the Diocesan Museum was opened, where you can admire valuable sacred objects and furnishings.