October 2020 Caserta: Sant'Angelo and Casertavecchia

Encouraged by a day entirely on foot on Sunday morning I foolishly imagine it will be quiet to go around by car. I wonder if it is ever quiet to go around by car anywhere in Campania region. Our first destination is Santa Maria Capua Vetere but we soon give up on the idea, it's market day (on a Sunday??) and the town is packed and chaotic. I can't imagine finding a parking place or being able to maneuver into it.

So we go directly to the church of Sant'Angelo in Formis. It's supposed to open at ten and it's just before when we arrive. A few other people are waiting too, which is encouraging and sure enough at about ten the gates are opened.

From the lawn in front there's a good view over the plain towards Naples and the sea. 

As with many places of worship in the area the church lies on the remains of a Roman temple to Diana, and various recuperated architectural elements have been incorporated as necessary, especially the columns.

Sant'Angelo in Formis was built in the eleventh century by the same abbot who built Monte Cassino, and the frescoes are a mix of the Byzantine (Eastern) and Latin (Western) traditions and show scenes from the Old (mostly rather ruined) and New (still in very good condition) Testaments as well as a fine Cristo Pantocratore 

in the apse and Giudizio Universale on the inside wall above the entrance. They are really very beautiful and we spend almost an hour there. The floor is interesting too, it's a church which is well worth a visit.

So by the time we leave it's almost eleven. We find a parking space in Capua for a euro and have a short walk around the centre, which is chaotic with cars, the church we wanted to visit is closed although we buy some rizze in the pasticceria next door to it which console us a little. Capua has a few interesting bits and pieces, the bridge, the Fieramosca palace, nothing particularly inspiring however, or perhaps it's past our lunchtime.

By half past three when we are ready to venture out again the main road outside the apartment is really really quiet.....odd!. In fact we manage to get through a mainly deserted Caserta city centre in record time and the drive up to Casertavecchia is quiet and easy. Here parking seems to be on private lots and costs €2 however long you stay. There are lots of cars parked and people around, restaurants are busy with big family groups for cresime, confirmations, not quite sure how that fits in with the Covid-19 regulations.

Anyway Casertavecchia is very nice, a small but perfectly preserved historical centre with a very nice church: 

the cathedral of San Michele Arcangelo, which perhaps was probably built on the remains of a previous Lombard church, and is a mixture of styles, reminding us of the churches in Minturno, Gaeta and Sessa Aurunca, as well as Sant'Angelo in Formis in the morning.The outside is in a grey-ochre stone with some white marble, the inside plain but beautiful with an old fresco of Madonna and child, 

the marble tomb of Francesco De La Rath, Conte di Caserta (1318-1359) and a fine pulpit with mosaics. Afterwards we wander up and down the narrow streets of the village avoiding people as much as possible, it's a pleasant place to spend an hour and a half. 

On the way back we stop at San Leucio, now closed for the afternoon, 

but at least to see the view from the Belvedere.

Pizza fritta and pizza marinara again this evening but this time we stroll 50 metres down the road to get it ourselves. Piping hot and good pizza, a different base from the one we are used to in the north, and a lot better, but they did invent pizza down here, after all......