Termoli Cathedral

The Cattedrale di Santa Maria della Purificazione is the oldest building in Termoli and the most rewarding piece of architecture in Molise. It was built between the 12th and 13th centuries on the foundations of a much earlier basilica, and the façade is one of the finest pieces of Apulian-Romanesque work on the Adriatic coast — three round-arched portals, blind arcading above, and a rose window that survived the 1566 Turkish raid which destroyed much of the rest.

Inside, the basilica plan is austere and beautifully proportioned. The crypt below holds mosaic fragments from the original 5th-century church and the silver reliquaries of Saint Timothy and Saint Basso, the city's patrons. Entry is free; the cathedral sits on a small piazza at the heart of the Borgo Vecchio, a minute's walk from the castle.

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A story
In 1945 a workman repairing the cathedral floor discovered two sealed lead urns containing the bones of Saint Timothy — companion of the Apostle Paul — and Saint Basso. The relics had been hidden for centuries, walled up to protect them from the sack of 1566 when Ottoman raiders burned much of Termoli; nobody alive in the town remembered they were there.

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