Melfi - Chiesa di San Lorenzo - 2023-09-25 23-00-51 001

San Lorenzo is a

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

-style

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church building in

Melfi Melfi ( Lucano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Vulture area of the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. Geographically, it is midway between Naples and Bari. In 2015 it had a population of 17,768. Geography On a ...

, province of Potenza, region of

Basilicata Basilicata (, ; ), also known by its ancient name Lucania (, , ), is an administrative region in Southern Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south. It has two coastlines: a 30-kilometr ...

, Italy. The octagonal church was initially built in the 1000s by the Byzantine rulers of the city, and was soon occupied by canons belonging to the nearby

Abbey of Monticchio The Abbey of San Michele is a Benedictine Abbey located at the foot of Monte Vulture, on the eastern flank of the Lago di Monticchio Piccolo in Monticchio in the region of Basilicata, Italy. History The abbey was founded in the 10th century at ...

. In 1500, it became a parish church. The church has suffered damage over the centuries from the earthquakes. The present portal and long stairs appears to date to the 17th century. The adjacent bell-tower, rebuilt in the 14th century by the family of Niccolo Acciaiuoli, has since collapsed, and only the base remains. In 2015, the church underwent refurbishment including demolishing a parish house built to the left of the entrance portal.Vulture news of Melfi
11 August 2016.

References

Gothic church buildings in Italy Churches in the province of Potenza 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Octagonal churches in Italy Melfi {{Basilicata-RC-church-stub