Church of the Santissimo Salvatore, Benevento

The Church of the Holy Savior is located on Stefano Borgia Street in the city of Benevento.

Video - description of the church: click here

The church has three naves, separated by a double row of ancient Roman columns of gray granite. Of early medieval origin, as proven by documents and confirmed by recent archaeological findings it was severely damaged by several earth tremors. In 1650 Giovan Battista Roscio renovated and adorned it, thus obtaining its patronage rights.

A plaque was set on the main door to commemorate this munificence, and it is currently walled in the chancel behind the 19th-century organ. The text of the plaque reads thus, "D.O.M. ECCLESIAM HANC, / QUAM ALEXANDER PASTOR / ESIMIA PIETATIS, ET OMIGENAE ERUDITIONIS PAROCHUS / MORTE PRAEVENTUS / REFICIENDAM RELIQUIT, / IOANNES BAPTISTA ROSCIUS PATRITIUS BENEVENTANUS / EMIN.MI FRANCISCI BARBARICI S. R. E. CARDINALIS, / VICE CANCELLARIIS, EPISCOPI SABINENSIS, / S.SOPHIAE ABBATIS, ET PERPETUI COMMENDATARIIS / VICARIUS GENERALIS / AD DEI LAUDEM. / PERFECIT, ORNAVIT. / ANNO IUBIAEI / MDCL."

The church was one of the oldest parishes in Benevento, to which, in 1661, that of St. Peter in Caballo, which has now disappeared, was annexed. Currently, SS. Salvatore is dependent on the parish of St. Sophia.

The earthquake of June 5, 1688 severely damaged it, but it was renovated and re-consecrated by Cardinal Orsini on April 18, 1696,as attested by the epigraph on the plaque walled on the back wall of the right aisle: "ECCLESIAM HANC SSMO SERVATORIS SACRAM TERRAE / VI AÑO MDCLXXXVIII DIE. V.IUNIJ DEVASTATA / ET PAROCHIANORUM COLLATO AERE, ET ARCHIEPISCOPI / ELEMOSYNIS DECENTIUS REFECTAM, AC CONXINNATA / SOLEMNI RITU DEDICANS DIE XXVIIII. APRILIS / MDCXCVI. CV UNICA ARA SACRAVIT FR. VINCENTIUS / MARIA ORD. PREDIC. CARD URSINUS ARCHIEPISCOPUS / ET OMNIBUS FIDBUS IMPSAM VISITANTIBUS DOMENICA II. / POSTA PASCA IN QUAM DEDICAONIS FESTŬ TRANSTULIT / CENTUM INDULGENTIAE DIES CONCESSIT".

On September 14, 1884, as the epigraph on a plaque currently resting on the altar in the left aisle attests, the church was reconsecrated by Bishop Antonio Scotti, after other renovations promoted by Rector Angelo Ucci had been carried out there. "DUO MINORA ALTARIA DICATA UNUM SACRAE FAMILIAE / ET ALTERUM B. M.V. DE ARCU COMPOSITA FUERUNT PAR / TIM PAROCHIANORUM AERE ET PARTIM EXPENSIS ANGELI / UCCI HUIUS ECCLESIAE RECTORIS QUI ETIAM FERE SUIS SUM / PTIBUS IPSAM SQUALORE CONFECTAM MAXIMA EX PARTE RE / STAURAVIT TURRI CAMPANARIA ET ORGANO DOTAVIT. EXCELUS / VERO D.US ANTONIUS SCOTTI EPUS SAREPTAN ET AUXILIARIS SO / SOLEMNI RITU ET MAGNA POPULI FREQUENTIA HAEC MINORA AL / TARIA CONSACRAVIT DIE 14 SEMPTEMBRIS ANNI MDCCCLXXXIV / ET OMNIBUS CHRISTI FIDELIBUS QUOVIS ANNO DIE PRAEDICTA / HAEC VISITANTIBUS QUADRAGINTA INDULGENTIARUM DIES CONCESSIT".

The Church of the Savior, closed after the 1962 earthquake because of the severe damage it suffered, was reopened for worship in 2001, at the end of a series of restorations that restored its dignity and charm. Completed in 1999, the restorations were conservative restorations, but, at the same time, they aimed to leave visible, as in a "stratigraphy," the traces of the modifications that the religious building has undergone over the many centuries of its history.

At the garden wall of the parish house, a small plaque could be seen on which was inscribed: OLIM TEMPLUM S. QUIRICI NUNC SIGNUM SIMPLICIS BENEFICII 1760.

As this inscription attests, and as medieval writers confirm, a church dedicated to St. Quirico stood nearby.