Duomo di Sant’ Andrea and the Crypt of St. Andrew

In yesterday’s post I had mentioned that a disciple was buried in a church we had visited but couldn’t remember who at the time. Well, the church was Duomo di Sant’ Andrea and it holds the remains of St. Andrew. “Complicated, grand, delicate, and dominating, the 9th-century Amalfi cathedral has been remodeled over the years with Romanesque, Byzantine, Gothic, and Baroque elements, but retains a predominantly Arab-Norman style. The power of Amalfi is evident in the approach to the cathedral, set atop 62 broad steps that lead to a mosaic facade, redone in the 19th century, and framed by bands, arches, and patterned squares.

Steps from the basilica lead down into the crypt of St. Andrew. The cathedral above was built in the 13th century to house the saint’s bones, which came from Constantinople and supposedly exuded a miraculous liquid believers call the ‘manna of St. Andrew.’ Amalfi’s cathedral had always lured pious devotees- from Francis of Assisi to Pope Urban IV- but after the 14th centurymanna manifestation the pilgrim trade really picked up. The saint’s remans (sans head, which is in the Vatican) are kept under the 13th century high altar in this exceptionally beautiful crypt adorned with marble statues sculpted by Pietro Bernini, father of the famed Gianlorenzo Berninin.” (Fodor’s Naples, Capri & the Amalfi Coast)