Description
The church of Sant'Antonio Abate is the Baroque masterpiece of Campobasso, in the historic center next to the old Porta Sant'Antonio. Outside it has a plain, plastered facade; inside, a single hall that glitters with gilded wood and 17th-century canvases.
The surprise is the four side altars, carved in wood with rich ornament and covered in pure gold. At the far end, the high altar in colored marble, from 1748, is fully Rococo.
The most important painter is Francesco Guarino da Solofra. On the first altar on the left is his Saint Benedict Exorcizing a Possessed Man, from 1643, with a Pietà above it; on the next altar, more of his canvases surround a statue of the Virgin and Child.
Guarino uses dark, intense tones, which are at their best in the outdoor scenes.
On the altar of Saint Anthony, the 16th-century wooden statue of the saint is framed by nine small 17th-century canvases with episodes from his life. On the back wall of the choir, the Temptation of Saint Anthony shows Flemish influence.
On the left wall is the organ from 1696, also in carved wood covered in gold leaf. The church also holds the wooden statue of Saint Francis by Paolo Saverio Di Zinno, a sculptor born in Campobasso.
High up on the walls run the frescoes of Michele Scaroina, another Campobasso native, dated 1614. The ceiling, on the other hand, is 20th-century: Amedeo Trivisonno painted the Expulsion of Lucifer from Heaven on it in tempera.
The present church was built in 1572, the date carved on the simple portal, over an older little church, the oratory of a Benedictine hospice. It was then the seat of the confraternity of the Trinitarians until 1809, and of a parish from 1829.
The year 1799 left its mark: during the French invasion the altar columns were plundered and the altarpiece of the second altar on the right disappeared. Only its lunette with God the Father by Paolo Fenoglia remains.
Over the presbytery there was a dome, demolished because it was unstable and replaced by a flat ceiling frescoed by Leo Paglione. The bell tower, badly damaged by an earthquake, was rebuilt in 1864.
A few steps away, Porta Sant'Antonio is a rusticated arch in the walls built by Cola Monforte, joined to a great wall and a round tower. The church, in the neighborhood that bears its name, stood just outside that circuit.
Don't miss
• The gilded wooden altars.
• Guarino's Saint Benedict.
• The organ from 1696.
• The statue of Saint Anthony with the nine canvases.
• Porta Sant'Antonio.
The surprise is the four side altars, carved in wood with rich ornament and covered in pure gold. At the far end, the high altar in colored marble, from 1748, is fully Rococo.
The most important painter is Francesco Guarino da Solofra. On the first altar on the left is his Saint Benedict Exorcizing a Possessed Man, from 1643, with a Pietà above it; on the next altar, more of his canvases surround a statue of the Virgin and Child.
Guarino uses dark, intense tones, which are at their best in the outdoor scenes.
On the altar of Saint Anthony, the 16th-century wooden statue of the saint is framed by nine small 17th-century canvases with episodes from his life. On the back wall of the choir, the Temptation of Saint Anthony shows Flemish influence.
On the left wall is the organ from 1696, also in carved wood covered in gold leaf. The church also holds the wooden statue of Saint Francis by Paolo Saverio Di Zinno, a sculptor born in Campobasso.
High up on the walls run the frescoes of Michele Scaroina, another Campobasso native, dated 1614. The ceiling, on the other hand, is 20th-century: Amedeo Trivisonno painted the Expulsion of Lucifer from Heaven on it in tempera.
The present church was built in 1572, the date carved on the simple portal, over an older little church, the oratory of a Benedictine hospice. It was then the seat of the confraternity of the Trinitarians until 1809, and of a parish from 1829.
The year 1799 left its mark: during the French invasion the altar columns were plundered and the altarpiece of the second altar on the right disappeared. Only its lunette with God the Father by Paolo Fenoglia remains.
Over the presbytery there was a dome, demolished because it was unstable and replaced by a flat ceiling frescoed by Leo Paglione. The bell tower, badly damaged by an earthquake, was rebuilt in 1864.
A few steps away, Porta Sant'Antonio is a rusticated arch in the walls built by Cola Monforte, joined to a great wall and a round tower. The church, in the neighborhood that bears its name, stood just outside that circuit.
Don't miss
• The gilded wooden altars.
• Guarino's Saint Benedict.
• The organ from 1696.
• The statue of Saint Anthony with the nine canvases.
• Porta Sant'Antonio.