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The Church of St Sebastian in Nerola: From Medieval Sabina to Contemporary Architecture
The Church of San Sebastiano is located in Nerola, in the heart of the Sabine Hills. Its history begins in the 14th century, when the Orsini family had it built just outside the walls of the village. Its position earned it the description of “country church”. It was reached walking along the San Sebastiano road, now Corso Umberto I.
Destruction and rebirth
The Marsica earthquake of 1915 severely damaged the church, and it was eventually pulled down in 1924. The church was reborn only in 1972, in the present Piazza di San Sebastiano, not far from the original site, with an entirely new look.
Contemporary architecture
Today’s church speaks the unmistakable language of the 1970s: it is an angular structure clad in stone slabs, with a large full-height glazed wall on the façade. The interior is pared back, with a single nave, stone floor and plastered walls. The sanctuary, enclosed between four pillars supporting a soaring spire, evokes the “Shekhinah,” the sacred tent of biblical tradition. The roof, laid on three levels, draws the eye towards the altar.
What survives of the earlier building
Inside the church a 17th-century wooden statue of Saint Sebastian is preserved, the only visible link with the church’s older history.
