The Parish Saints Matthew and Gregory the Great is an Ecclesiastical Authority civilly recognized by Decree of the Ministry of Interior 07.22.1989, published on the extraordinary Supplement of the Official Gazette n ° 16 of 14/10/1989.
The dual title of the parish dates back to April 27, 1857, when the Archbishop Marino Paglia, with Laudatissima bubble ecclesia et antiquated, moved from the parish church of St. Gregory the Great, in via dei Mercanti, the Cathedral and on 12 May it appointed the first parish priest, d. Modestino Carbone.
January 12, 1860 the church of St. Gregory is declared branch of the Cathedral but the priest remains in fact the ancient site until July 12, 1939.
The June 12, 1880 the Archbishop Valerio Laspro asks the Sacred Congregation of the Council are authorized to remove the branch.
January 17, 1888, the parish priest is counted among the honorary canons of the Metropolitan Chapter.
Since July 12, 1939 the parish, in fact, and definitely, is transferred to the Cathedral and the ancient church of St. Gregory the Great becomes, then, the seat of the Medical School of Salerno Museum.
Cfr. GENEROUS CRISCI, Salerno Sacra, historical research, (edited by Vincenzo De Simone, Giuseppe Rescigno, Francesco Manzione, Donato De Mattia). Vol. The 2nd Ed, Gutenberg, 2001. See. AA.VV, “Saints Matthew and Gregory the Great” in 2000 Yearbook, Graphic Arts Landi, Baronissi (Sa), 2000.

The Basilica

The Cathedral was founded by Robert Guiscard. In March of 1081 it was inaugurated the crypt and in July 1084, the church was consecrated by Pope Gregory VII himself, who took refuge in Salerno. The Cathedral is modeled along the lines of the Abbey of Montecassino Desiderio with a basilica plan consists of three longitudinal naves, a transept and a portico. The current appearance corresponds to a large part to the baroque restructuring, initiated after the earthquake of June 5, 1688 of the Neapolitan project architect Arcangelo Guglielmelli modified and completed by the Roman architect Carlo Buratti.

The current input has changed the medieval with the sculptural pair of lion and lioness. The atrium is surrounded by a right porch from 28 simple columns with round arches raised, echoing types Islamic. It is decorated on all sides by a series of Roman sarcophagi, reused in medieval times, taking shape as a sort of Pantheon of the city. On the south side stands a tall bell tower of the mid-twelfth century. The main entrance to the church is made up of a Byzantine bronze door, inserted in u medieval marble portal. The side chapels are affected especially the Baroque culture with eighteenth-century paintings of good quality as the San Gennaro Francesco Solimena and Pentecost by Francesco De Mura.

Do not miss the pro works from other eras, such as the Gothic statue of the Virgin and Child of the fourteenth century, the funerary monument of Queen Margherita of Durazzo of Baboccio. In the nave you can admire the famous ambos the last decades of the twelfth century, decorated with sculptures and mosaics Sicilian area. To admire the mosaic floor in the transept of the early decades of the twelfth century, the mosaics of the side apses and the tomb of Pope Gregory VII. In the chapel of the Treasury, after the sacristy, you can admire different Gothic reliquaries including the arm of Saint Matthew and silver statues of SS. Martyrs Salernitani (XIII sec.), Carried in procession on the occasion of the patron. On the lower level, main altar, there is the Crypt.

In 1081 the SS. relics of the Apostle Matthew, patron of the city, were buried in the crypt in the presence of Alfano I, Emperor Michael and the Duke Robert Guiscard. The crypt extends under the transept and the choir and consists of a room environment with nine rows of three spans with cross vault resting on columns; the latter meander in different directions and form, with admirable architectural effect, a tangle of curves that slope fading. The in room facility incorporates a type used by the monks of Cluny, but the overall construction of the Cathedral is the result of the new spiritual and religious climate of the eleventh century. In the seventeenth century they were determined for the lower Basilica major changes also due to the deteriorating state besetting. The work was commissioned to Domenico Fontana, head of the architectural and decorative project. The Fontana conceived the turn of the crypt in octagonal frames that alternate with those circulars, bordered by stucco and fresco paintings. He determined the double central altar of Saint Matthew, whose statue bifronte favored the simultaneous celebration of two masses and placed in the central apse the thresholds of SS. Salernitani martyrs.

The Fontana enlisted the collaboration of B. Corenzio and his workshop (1606-1608) for the paintings of the vault depicting the Stories of St. Matthew, N. Naccherino for the bronze statue of St. Matthew. In the eighteenth century, between 1718 and 1721, the two entrances to the crypt from the aisles were modified. In 1763 it was covered with colored marble by Francesco Ragozzino, integrating and respecting fully the decorative requirement designed by Fontana.

The Crypt

The Crypt is the first core in the construction of the cathedral. Already in March 1081, in the presence of Robert Guiscard and Archbishop Alfano I, were placed the relics of St. Matthew, the holy martyrs and other saints as evidenced by several tombstones located there, which shows that on that date the the structure was already full. The crypt, as you see today, corresponds to work carried out at the beginning of the seventeenth century by the architects Domenico Fontana and his son Julius Caesar, who took advantage of the centrality of Saint Matthew’s tomb, the most sacred place of the whole church and around which all other spaces. The polychrome marble altar is decorated on both sides by an elegant canopy. For the ornament the College Salernitano Medico donated in 1666 and in 1673 two pairs of fine brass candelabra, made realize by Francesco Rosso. Over the past 60 years the altar structure was totally transformed. On the northern side it was built a new altar. Here through a small opening you can see the tomb of St. Matthew. At the center of the double altar canopy are placed twin statues of St. Matthew Naccherino realized by Michelangelo in 1606. The saint is portrayed while writing the Gospel with a book resting on the left knee and a pen on the right hand. At his side an angel holds out an inkwell.

The most sacred place for the city of Salerno is, without doubt, the tomb that guards the precious relics of his august patron St. Matthew.
The same location of the Tomb, located in the center of the Crypt, indicates that it shall form the most vital part from which radiates light and fervor.
In 1081, after the new and spacious crypt, Alfano I put down the relics of the saints and martyrs and those who were to make him the crown.
Today, as you see, the Crypt corresponds to work carried out in the early ‘600 by the architects Domenico and his son Giulio Cesare Fontana, which have made dramatic and functional by organizing the space around the double-faced statue of the saint, erected over the tomb with a double altar.
This double statue was created by Michelangelo Naccherino in 1606.

The right apse is called Saints Confessors of which there is a performance at the altar of marble above attributed to Luigi Roderic. On the walls in the upper two frescoes illustrate the Siege of Salerno by Barbarossa and Storm unleashed by St. Matthew, took place thanks to a miracle of the saint who sank much of the enemy fleet and save the city. In the vault frescoes depicting S. Grammazio, the miracle of the liberation of one possessed, the healing of a sick and allegories: The Wisdom, Fortitude and Justice.

central apse contains the mortal remains of the holy martyrs Caius, Ante and Fortunato and San Felice. The polychrome marble altar was donated by the Medical School of Salerno in 1753. The bronze busts of the holy martyrs were made by Giovan Domenico Vinaccia, and dated 1680. The vault is covered with stucco and Belisario Corinthian frescoes depicting scenes from the life of the Holy Martyrs.

The left apse is dedicated to the Holy Virgin. Here were in fact preserved the relics of the Navy and Constance. The polychrome marble altar dates back to centuries. XVIII, with a marble frame around the canvas painted by Pacecco De Rosa depicting the Madonna delle Grazie and the SS. Trofimena Constance and Agata. In the side bezel is a hexagonal fresco depicting St. Agatha in prison healed from St. Peter. The chapel of the relics was made in 1957 by the Archbishop realize Moscato. In it they were transferred into special oval the relics of the saints found in the Crypt.

The Chapel of the Treasure

Through a small door in the sacristy it leads to the Chapel of the Treasury, originally known as the Relics or Reliquary. The term treasure, in fact relates not so much to precious as the remains of the saints. As the sacristy, it was completed by the Archbishop Cervantes in the mid-sixties of the sixteenth century.

It is built from a small room very harvest of only 36 square meters, originally supplied by a central apse, then it closed on the bases to form a large container cabinet.

The initial period are only the lateral floor bands in small quarrels majolica hand-painted, while the rest of the environment affected by the deep restructuring carried out by 1730, as stated by the epigraph in the counter.

By this date the vault was painted, according to a baroque style, depicting Paradise Salerno, full of images of saints whose relics are in the cathedral of San Matte.

The walls are decorated, instead, with architectural quadratures, especially columns and windows with pots, which allow a space optical dilation. The author is the painter Benevento Filippo Pennino, active in the area of ​​Salerno in the middle decades of the first half of the eighteenth century.

In local houses the five silver statues that are carried in procession on September 21 (the wooden statue of St. Joseph is not kept in the Cathedral).

From November 21, 2015, the day 21 of each month, the Chapel of St. Matthew’s Treasure will be open to visits from the hours 9:00 to 13:00 hours.
The entrance has a cost of € 1 (one euro).

Source: website