Information
The cult of the Warrior Angel is historically linked to the presence of the Lombards, who for iconographic reasons identified the Archangel with their major god Valhalla. The presence of places of worship dedicated to San Michele is therefore a characteristic of the Longobard settlements located on the border between the Longobard and Byzantine domains.
The original building dates back to the VII-VIII century and in 1410 suffered the collapse of foundations, followed by interventions that led to a body so high that the space obtained between the original floor and the new was used for the burials of the dead. This intervention erased most of the elements of the original building. In 1913 the facade was rebuilt, but later it was decided the demolition of the church, following the damage suffered in the earthquake of 1930, to build a new, the current, built in 1938. In the demolition work were rediscovered elements in the Gothic style, which suggest a modification of the original church in the Norman-Swabian period. In 1997 the new portal of the church in bronze and porcelain metal was designed by Enzo Liberti; it is enclosed by two pairs of Corinthian columns holding an arch with lunette decorated with a bas-relief representing two angels in adoration of the SS. Sacramento.
Today’s church has a polygonal plan with three naves with a double entrance. The gabled facade with rose window has a pediment decorated in low relief, a representation of two angels holding a shield resting on two crossed swords; on the right side of the prospectus a square bell tower of classical style with mullioned windows and three lights.
Inside, you can admire a wonderful "triptych of All Saints" of the fourteenth century that is attributed to the school of Fra Angelico and the Chapel of San Biagio (probably the original nucleus of the building).
