The crypt of St Matthew and the Norman quadriportico
The Cathedral of San Matteo in Salerno was built from 1080 by the Norman ruler Robert Guiscard to house the relics of St Matthew the Evangelist, which had arrived in the city in 954. It was consecrated in 1084 by Pope Gregory VII, who had taken refuge in Salerno and died here the following year; his tomb is in the cathedral.
You enter through the Lions' Gate into a magnificent quadriportico, an atrium surrounded by arches on ancient columns taken from Paestum, with a twelfth century bell tower. The bronze doors were cast in Constantinople in 1099. The interior, rebuilt in baroque style after an earthquake, preserves medieval treasures: two ambos decorated with Cosmatesque mosaics, the paschal candlestick and the mosaics of the apse. The highlight is the crypt, entirely covered with polychrome marble and seventeenth century frescoes, where the relics of St Matthew lie under a double bronze statue of the saint.
Tip: the cathedral is a short walk from the Lungomare Trieste, one of the most beautiful seafronts in Italy; Salerno is also the home of the medieval Scuola Medica Salernitana.
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