Church of the Holy Family

In the district of Fratte, along the road leading to Avellino and Benevento, the ancient Via dei due Principati that joined the Lombard cities of Salerno and Benevento, stands a little-known and little-visited masterpiece of contemporary architecture even in Salerno: the Church of the Holy Family. The’building was designed by Salerno engineer Vittorio Gigliotti and Paolo Portoghesi (1931), former director of the Venice Biennale and theorist of post-modernism in architecture.

The church was built between 1971 and 1974, in a neighborhood that has very ancient origins–the Etruscans settled here in the city known as Irna–and that in the 19th century was the site of important manufactures, so that it became a working-class neighborhood.

The curved shapes and the circle are the defining elements of the architectural intervention, as a metaphor for the divine and its centrality. Three concentric circles, symbolizing the Trinity, are the elements on which the project is built. The dedication to the Holy Family, on the other hand, is represented by the two entrance ramps. The interior, illuminated by beautiful stained-glass windows(green-blue and yellow-white) combines a first impression of a traditional church, with sloping roof and high bell tower, with the centrality of the high altar, typical of the new conciliar church, made up of assembly dialogue.

The church’s interior is a very special and unique setting, with a very special and unique style of the church.

A brass sculpture by Mario Siniscalco embellishes the tabernacle chapel.