The cathedral of Santa Maria Annunziata of Priverno is located in the main square right next to the Town Hall Square.
It was consecrated in 1183 by Pope Lucius III, the pope of the Order of Cistercians who clashed with Frederick I and who condemned the heresy of the Cathars and the Waldensians.
The original church dates back to the twelfth century though the style of the façade.
The interior reflects much of a Baroque restoration that took place in the 1700s that has given rise to a unique and recognizable Gothic-baroque style.
You enter the church through a wide staircase arriving at a gothic portico with columns that are supported by typical medieval animals placed to protect the building.
The presence of a sculpture of a horse probably recalls the legend of the mythical Queen Camilla Volsci bred with mare's milk.
The interior of the church has three naves with numerous side chapels that preserve many works of art.
Among them, a painting of the Madonna of Mezzagosto, miraculously rediscovered in 1143 by a farmer while ploughing his field in a place called Mezzagosto.
Every year, on August 14, a procession is held in his honour and every five years this procession is characterized by a chariot pulled by two great white oxen.
In one of the side chapels is preserved the skull of St. Thomas Aquinas, patron of the city.
Follow us