Abbazia rupestre di Santa Maria de Olearia
Maiori
Hidden gemSacred art
The story
Carved into the rock along the road to Salerno, an abbey of three chapels stacked one above the other; fragments of Byzantine frescoes hold on where oil was once pressed.
Access
abbey by reservation
More gems in Maiori
- Sacred art
Capo d'Orso
Maiori
A headland whose rocky profile makes it look like a bear; on the mountains behind it climbs the pilgrimage to the sanctuary of the Avvocata.
- Free beaches
Baia di Erchie e spiaggia del Cauco
Maiori
A fishing village hidden between Cetara and Maiori, its narrow beach held between Saracen towers; the little cove of Cauco is reached only by swimming or by boat.
- Hiking
Sentiero dei Limoni
Maiori (SA)
An ancient route of steps and mule tracks links Maiori to Minori through the lemon terraces, the coast opening at every bend onto the sea.
- Sacred art
Santa Maria de' Olearia
Maiori (SA)
Carved into the rock along the coast of Maiori, the little cave abbey holds eleventh-century frescoes in the grotto where oil was once pressed: half-light, silence and Byzantium.
- Views & panoramas
Faro di Capo d'Orso
Maiori (SA)
Suspended over the Costiera between Maiori and Cetara, the lighthouse guards a rocky cape where the road climbs and the gaze runs to the mountains plunging into the sea.
Free beachesBaia di Erchie
Maiori (SA)
A handful of fishermen's houses and a snug beach cradled between the headlands, with a torre saracena (Saracen watchtower) at one end: one of the most secluded coves of the Costiera.
More gems: Sacred art
Sacred artCappella Sansevero (Cristo Velato)
Napoli (NA)
Beneath a veil of marble that still seems to breathe, Sanmartino's Cristo Velato rests in the chapel's half-light, and the whiteness of the stone deceives every eye.
Sacred artDuomo di Napoli
Napoli
Three times a year the city holds its breath as the blood of San Gennaro waits to liquefy, among Gothic naves and the gold of the chapel devoted to him.
Sacred artCappella del Tesoro di San Gennaro
Napoli
Behind a bronze gate lie silverware, gems and the jewel-studded mitre of the saint: a treasure heaped up over centuries by the devotion of Naples.
Sacred artChiesa del Gesù Nuovo
Napoli
The facade of pyramid-cut piperno stone hides symbols carved into the blocks, while inside the Baroque bursts out in marble and in the memory of the physician Giuseppe Moscati.
Sacred artChiostro di Santa Chiara
Napoli
A garden of pillars clad in yellow and blue majolica, where lemon pergolas and eighteenth-century scenes painted on the tiles keep the noise of the city at bay.
- Sacred art
Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco
Via Tribunali 39
Bronze skulls stand guard at the entrance, and down in the hypogeum the cult of the anime pezzentelle (adopted souls of the dead) still leaves flowers and prayers beside abandoned crania.