The Matrice Church
San Nicola di Bari
On the East side of the feudal palace stands the Matrice Church dedicated to San Nicola di Bari.
The Church, built with high probability in medieval age, is referred to as San Nicola Superiore (Upper) or Maggiore (Main), to distinguish it from the Church of San Nicola Inferiore (Lower) or ex Aleph, located further downstream.
Equipped with several altars and a bell tower, it was the site of chapels and tombs of the city’s nobility. The altars were clad in mixed marble. On the facade there were more access doors.
The church is adjacent to the palace of Princes Carafa: from this, the noble family, through a small hallway “coretto“ located on the first floor and now destroyed, entered directly into the sacred building, to attend religious services.
The church is closed to worship after the earthquake of 1905.
In 1931, it was deprived of its most precious furnishings transferred to the new Matrice Church downstream, and definitively closed.
Today the Matrice Church is used as a congress hall, press conferences. Also, given the suggestiveness of the structure, it is particularly required for the celebration of civil marriages.
