CHIESA DI SAN MICHELE
St. Michael's Church is one of the jewels of Baroque architecture on the island. It was built between 1698 and 1719, with the will of Mother Serafina of God, local Sister, by architect Domenico Antonio Vaccaro, an important exponent of the Neapolitan Baroque, who built the present Church on the remains of the previous dedicated to St. Nicholas. During the British occupation of the island the Churche was suppressed and the monastery used as storage for ammunition, until Ferdinand I of Naples decided to reopen for worship and direct it to the Congregation of the Immaculate Conception. The building has an octagonal central plant, with two side chapels, four niches and dome cover. In the apse is a polychrome marble altar made by Agostino Chirola and designed by the engineer Angelo Barletta. The paintings in the Church are work by Neapolitan painter Giacomo del Po and Cilento painter Paolo De Matteis. The masterpiece is the tiled floor made by the Neapolitan Leonardo Chiaiese, depicting the Expulsion from Paradise of Adam and Eve.
Info:
November-March from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm; April-October drom 9:00 am to 7:00 pm.
