Built in an area with ruins of the Roman Venafro, during the Renaissance it was enriched with chapels and works of art
The cathedral, built in the 12th century, stands on the San Leonardo hill, opposite the historic center, in an area that today appears depopulated but which was originally full of ruins (still partly present) and inhabited until the 14th century.
The current building, even after heavy restoration, retains the original layout and in addition to various thirteenth and fourteenth century elements, has a wall with ancient epigraphs and reliefs, that emphasize the symbolic importance of the construction.
Between the 15th and 16th centuries the interior underwent a transformation, with the opening and decoration of chapels, both in the naves and in the presbytery and apses. Notable traces of these remain, such as the fresco in the left apse, with the lying figure of the noblewoman Covella D'Alferio, and the sixteenth-century painted altars of the chapels along the naves.
Photogallery
What to see here
Fresco with the Tree of Jesse
The fresco, which is located in the fourth chapel on the right of the Venafro cathedral, was found during the restoration of the 1960s, under layers of plaster that had entirely covered it.
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Fresco in the left apse
The fresco, which is located in the left apse of Venafro cathedral, was commissioned in 1458 by Cristoforo Mancino to commemorate his deceased wife, Covella d'Alferio di Castelpetroso.
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Blocks with signa militaria
The two blocks are reused in the first and second line of stones, one above the other, outside the main apse of the Cathedral of Venafro.
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Doric frieze
Reused outside the central apse of the Cathedral, and placed between two Ionic friezes, based on the typological characters it can be dated to the third quarter of the 1st century BC
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Elements of an acantine scroll frieze
Two of the blocks of the frieze, decorated with an Acantine scroll, were reused outside the central apse of the cathedral, and two more non-contiguous pieces in the left apse
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D'Alferio, family
A family of the highest order, deeply rooted in the patriciate of Isernia starting from the 13th century, founded its success on the exercise of law to serve the Crown.
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Mancino family
The Mancino family was one of the most important in the Venafra patriciate in the 15th and 16th centuries, but their presence has been documented in the city since at least the mid-14th century, with the doctor Angelo.
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