Chiesa di Santa Sofia
The Church of St. Sophia is one of the most important examples of Lombard art in Benevento, part of the path called "Lombards in Italy: places of power", including seven sites and writing into the list of UNESCO "World Heritage" (2011 ). Founded by Duke Arechi II around 760, the Church replays the palace chapel of Liutprand in Pavia; while dedicating to Sophia, or the "Sapienza", is an explicit reference to Constantinople. The building was severely damaged in the earthquakes of 1688 and 1702, and was rebuilt in Baroque style: Carlo Buratti transformed the plant from stellar to circulate, with two side chapels; changed the apse, the facade and the pillars, and almost completely destroyed the frescoes. In 1957, a controversial restoration restored what was lost on the basis of available documents. The central plant has six columns in the center to hold the dome, and eight pillars of white limestone. The area of the three apses is circular. Remarkable wooden statues of St. Juvenal (1790) and the Immaculate, by the sculptor Gennaro Cerasuolo. Some fragments of the original frescoes remain in the two side apses, works by artists associated with the School of Benevento miniature (VIII-IX century). The Romanesque portal hosts a bas-relief of the thirteenth century and is flanked by two columns supporting an arch.
