The Shrine of St. Francis and St. Anthony in Cava de' Tirreni and its monumental nativity scene

About this activity

The Shrine by St. Francis and St. Anthony is located in the Borgo Scacciaventi by Cava de' Tirreni.

Adjacent to the church is the convent of the Friars Minor, which houses the Monumental Crib, a fascinating library, a school of chant, the pilgrim's home reception center, born in 2008, and the soup kitchen still active today thanks to the contributions of friars and volunteers.

Why visit the Shrine

The atmosphere inside is very atmospheric: the church is bathed in a gentle, clear, delicate light, whose colors vary from bluish to yellow thanks to the beautiful stained glass windows polychrome of the windows and the games of light recreated by the skylight windows and mullioned windows.

The sacred heart of the shrine is the crypt, a place where we gather intimately in prayer. From the Upper Church, the environment is accessed via the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception. What characterizes the subenvironments are the floors dotted with mosaics that tell stories through drawings. In particular, the crypt features a planisphere occupying the entire paved area of the hall.

One of the reasons why the shrine is a destination for continuous pilgrimages, is the presence of the relics of St. Francis and St. Anthony, led by Padua in Cava de' Tirreni on February 17, 1996. The descent, however, does not stop at the crypt but continues to what is called "Lower Church of the Immaculate Conception", within which there are a variety of curious references to theRevelation. Among these stands out a well, where an ancient water spring was once found.

The verse in Revelation 21:6 quotes, "All things are fulfilled. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. To those who thirst I will give freely of the fountain of the water of life"; it is no accident that on the portals of the lower church and on the floor mosaics are depicted theAlpha and theOmega.

Of considerable interest is the library in which some 20,000 priceless works, some dating back to the 15th and 16th centuries, have been safeguarded, or dictionaries historians, such as Italian-Chinese and Italian-Arabic, and also an ancient geographic atlas.

The Monumental Crib

As we know, the complex houses not only the church but also a convent, in which it is worth visiting the famous Monumental Crib, a permanent nativity scene that follows a path extended over about 1,000 m2 of space. Walking through the halls you can admire scenes typical of the traditional eighteenth-century Neapolitan nativity scene, collections preserved since the 1600s, statues and priceless objects found in the rubble after the earthquake, such as those of the sculptor Balzico.

You can visit the crib for free from November 1 to March 1 accompanied by guides every weekend and holidays.

The history of the Shrine from its inception to the present

The monastery was built at the initiative of the town hall, which decided to entrust the religious life of the village to the franciscan friars. Construction began in 1492, but it was not until February 24, 1501 that it was taken over by Friar Damiano de Licia.

The religious structure was recognized as the "Church of the Municipality" to thank it for the social work done by the whole community. In this regard, the church set itself the goal of taking on the care of the less fortunate and engage in long-term charitable initiatives; it is no coincidence that the association still exists today and its activities only stopped during the world conflict in 1943 and then resumed in 2001.

The heyday was reached in the Six hundred. Wonderful artworks decorated the interior of the church, and to the right of the exterior facade as early as the late sixteenth century a bell tower from gray and white details with their own watch. Certainly not unnoticed is the main facade, which also withstood the last earthquake in 1980.

Unfortunately, over the centuries seismic events and bombings caused quite a bit of damage to the building, which had to provide with works of restoration continuous, thwarted again by the subsequent tragedy; among them, September 11, 1943 of the cannonade initiated by the allied troops landed in Salerno determined the fall of the facade, part of the steeple, the ceiling and the walls of the nave filled with precious frameworks and frescoes.

But the unfortunate cases do not end there, because in 1980 the famous earthquake of theIrpinia had again destroyed a large part of the building. The latest redevelopment work, in fact, lasted a full 13 years and began in 1996, also involving the faithful In economic support. It was not until 2009 that the church was again consecrated and reopened to the public.