Amalfi's Duomo churches, information, excursions in the Amalfi Coast

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Duomo of Amalfi

Dedicated to St. Andrew, Amalfi cathedral rises at the end of steep steps and dominates the square of the same name. In the middle of the square is the eighteenth-century fountain of St.Andrew or of the People. The original plan of the building dating back to the ninth century was redone in 1203 on a Sicilian Arab-Norman shape and then restructured over the centuries. The particularly beautiful façade, rebuilt after its collapse in 1861, has remarkable mosaic decoration in the tympanum, portraying Christ enthroned between the symbols of the Evangelists and the terrestrial podesta, designed by Domenico Morelli. To the left of the façade rises the bell tower, begun in 1180 and finished in 1276, and although restored many times, has kept its original appearance. In 1389 it was used as a defensive tower against the attacking Angevins, it is composed of one floor with double-light and another with triple-light windows, architectural elements clearly of Norman derivation, culminating in an Arabian inspired multicoloured majolica-tiled dome. The bronze doors are imposing, cast in Constantinople before 1066, with relief figures of Christ, Our Lady and Saints Andrew and Peter. The interior of the church, with three naves and on a Latin cross, rebuilt in Baroque style, contains frescoes, statues and other notable works of art: the paintings of Andrea d'Asti, that adorn the ceiling of the central nave and the transept, the Renaissance marble altarpiece with three saints, the sixteenth-century tomb of Bishop Andrea d'Acunto and two ambones with mosaic decorations belonging to the original church. The 1253 crypt that houses a huge statue, the gift of Philip III of Spain, and a reliquary, both of St. Andrew, is worth visiting; as is the Crucifix Chapel that preserves thirteenth-century elements.