Church of Saint Felicita
Church of Saint Felicita

Affile. Church of Saint Felicita

The church of Saint Felicita is dedicated to the patron saint of Affile and is located in the upper part of the village once inside the city walls. In the square in front of the church there were the government buildings and the social life of the village took place.

Given its location, perhaps the church was born as a chapel of the medieval castle which is no longer recognizable today. Only the external bell tower has maintained a medieval aspect and seems to be part of the original defense system of the city. The church has been enlarged and modernized over the centuries, and today its neoclassical appearance derives from the last arrangement of the early nineteenth century.

The interior has three naves in neoclassical style with a barrel and cross vaulted ceiling without too many decorations apart from the beautiful organ which is located on a balcony at the entrance to the church, a copy of the original. Affile was once the town of organ builders with the famous Catarinozzi and Spadari families building them in many European countries such as France, Germany and Spain.

One of the components of modern organs is still called the Main Catarinozzi Registry in honor of this family. Among their masterpieces we can mention the organ of the abbey of Montecassino, of the cathedral of Anagni, at the abbey of Santa Scolastica in Subiaco and again at Sant'Anna dei Lombardi in Naples and of Santa Maria in via del Corso in Rome.

The relics of the Christian martyr who died along the Via Salaria are kept in an urn inside the church and the saint is celebrated on 23 November and 10 July.

 

 


Written by:
Claudia Bettiol

Engineeer, futurist, joint founder of Energitismo and founder of Discoverplaces. Consultant for the development and promotion of the Touristic Development of Territories specialising in...

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