CASERTA, Diocese of. - On the slopes of Monte Virgo at 400 m. above sea level lies the present village of old C., which some would have occupy the site of ancient Saticola, while others recognize it as of Lombard origin. It is mentioned for the first time in the chronicle of Ecchempert at the end of the 9th century under the name Casa irta. It was held by the nephews of Bishop Landolfo; it flourished in the 10th century, after the destruction of Suessula and Calatia; in 1268 it was taken by Charles of Anjou from Count Corrado, who ceded it to Guglielmo di Bellomonte. It then passed to the Sanseverino, the Ribulsi, the della Ratta, the Caetani, and finally to the Bourbons in 1750.
When Charles III of Bourbon began in 1752 the construction of the famous royal palace on a design by L. Vanvitelli on the plain, in the district of Torre, old C. began to be depopulated at the expense of the new C. that was rising around the palace.
As for the origin of the diocese, it does not go back beyond the 12th century, when in the time of Paschal II Rainulfo was bishop (1113). In 1818 Pius VII united to C. the diocese of Cajazzo, which, however, Pius IX separated again in 1852.
A distinguished monument of old C. is the cathedral dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel, consecrated in 1153 and finished later; in it various architectural elements are found, such as the classicizing colonnade with rather Arabic small arches, like the vaults of the transept; the tall tiburio stands out with a double order of small arches; the interior has three naves with columns and spoliated capitals, a transept and apses. The surviving ambo and the paschal candlestick, reworked in the 18th century, are from the 13th century with complex mosaic decoration.
The floor is of the Cosmatesque type, with cut-out figures; the bell tower, from 1254, has a drum and turrets, also of Sicilian inspiration, like that of Gaeta.
In old C. there was also the collegiate church of St. James erected by Robert count of C., consecrated by Bishop Porfirio in 1178 in honor of Sts. James, Nicholas and Basil; it was later annexed to the monastery of the Dominicans in the 13th century.
There too is the church of St. Peter ad Monte, which is said to have arisen on the ruins of the temple of Jupiter Tiferninus and is contemporary with the cathedral of old C.; it is built with Roman material, presents the semicircular apse; in the interior, beneath the plaster, remnants of paintings are discernible, a Crucifixion and, among the arches, the Prophets, as in the contemporary St. Angelo in Formis.
The diocese, a suffragan of Capua, has an area of 407 sq km and a population of 108,700 inhabitants, all Catholics, with 52 parishes, 109 diocesan priests and 35 regulars, a minor seminary (1948). In old C. was born G. A. Santori, called di Santaverina, who died cardinal bishop of Albano in 1602.
Bibliography2 works
Enrico Josi