Church of Sant'Andrea Apostolo

The hilltop parish church dedicated to the town's patron saint, with Baroque façade and 18th-century interior paintings

The parish church of Sant'Andrea Apostolo stands at the heart of the hilltop borgo and gives the town its full, slightly improbable name. The façade is Baroque in character — not on the scale of the great southern Italian churches, but handsome for a village of this size, with carved stone detailing around the portal. Inside, the proportions are intimate, the light falls softly through narrow windows, and a handful of 18th-century paintings line the walls alongside a carved wooden choir that has survived without restoration. It is a working church, not a monument, and that makes it more interesting to visit than many a grander but emptier building.

The church's feast day falls on 30 November, the feast of the Apostle Andrew, and this is the most important date in the local calendar. The town dresses up, the piazza fills with families, and there are processions through the streets of the old centre. If your visit coincides with the feast, you will see a side of the town that tourists rarely encounter. At other times the church is usually open in the morning and again in the late afternoon — check the door for current hours, which follow the rhythms of the sacristan rather than any posted schedule.

things to do sight

Other places in Things to Do