The church of St. Nicholas of Bari, in the heart of Guglionesi’s historic center, is one of the oldest and most fascinating places of worship in southern Italy. Rebuilt in the 13th century after being razed to the ground by the 1117 earthquake, it still retains its original Romanesque layout, enriched over the centuries by Gothic and Baroque interventions. The stone facade is decorated with blind arches, plant capitals and a portal surmounted by a relief with a bull’s head, evidence of the transition between mature Romanesque and Gothic. The interior has three naves with pointed arches and is distinguished by a raised altar, reached by a long flight of steps, beneath which is a 12th-century Romanesque crypt, rediscovered in 1973. The crypt, with cross vaults and carved decoration, represents one of the oldest and most striking features. Recent studies show that the building was oriented in such a way as to align with the tombs of St. Nicholas in Myra and Bari, thus assuming the function of a “sacred sundial.”
