A tiny Byzantine church with five domes on Monte Consolino
On the slopes of Monte Consolino, above the medieval town of Stilo, in the hinterland of the Ionian coast, stands one of the most precious and moving monuments of southern Italy: the Cattolica, a tiny Byzantine church built in the tenth century, when Calabria was part of the Byzantine Empire and the region was dotted with monasteries and hermitages of Greek monks. The building, of only a few square metres, made of brick, has a perfect square plan, inscribed in a Greek cross, with three small apses, and is crowned by five small domes, a large central one and four smaller ones at the corners, covered with terracotta tiles, a typical form of Byzantine architecture of which it is one of the best preserved examples in Italy.
Inside, four columns of different origin, reused from ancient buildings, support the domes, one of them upside down, according to a custom that symbolised the victory of Christianity over paganism. The walls preserve fragments of frescoes of different periods, with Byzantine saints and inscriptions in Greek and later in Latin. From the small terrace in front of the church, the view sweeps over the roofs of Stilo, the valley and the Ionian Sea, an image of great beauty and peace. Stilo, the town below, is the birthplace of the philosopher Tommaso Campanella, the author of "The City of the Sun", and preserves a Gothic cathedral, Norman walls and a fountain. In the surroundings, among the woods of the Serre, are the ruins of other Byzantine churches and the ancient iron mines of the Bourbons.
Tip: the Cattolica is reached by a short walk from the upper part of Stilo; visit it in the late afternoon, when the light is warm.
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