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The Basilica and Co-Cathedral of St Mary in Sezze: the basilica that reversed its orientation
The Basilica, Co-Cathedral as well as Parish Church of Santa Maria is located in Sezze, in the Lepini Mountains. It has been a minor basilica and national monument since 1940. A church dedicated to St Luke the Evangelist probably existed here between the 3rd and 4th centuries. The current building dates back to the 13th century, built by craftsmen who also worked at Fossanova Abbey after a fire in 1150 destroyed the existing Romanesque church. A plaque inside commemorates the dedication on 18 August 1364 by Bishop Giovanni da Sora.
An turned-around church
The transformation came around the mid-16th century. During a radical restoration, the church's orientation was reversed: new entrances were opened where the apses had been. The original rose window was relocated to the rear façade, which is now the back wall of the main apse.
The baldachin and the choir
The interior has three naves divided by pillars, with a sail vault in the central nave and cross vaults in the side ones. The centrepiece is the Baroque wooden baldachin of 1672, built by an Abruzzese woodcarver in imitation of the one in the Vatican basilica. The canons' choir, crafted by the German Enrico Breninch in 1731, was mutilated in 1969 to make room for the organ donated by Paul VI, which in turn was restored in 2013.
The saints of Sezze
The high altar, decorated in 1734, stands over the tomb of St Lidanus Abbot, patron saint of the city. A chapel is dedicated to St Charles of Sezze, canonised in 1959.
