S.Pietro Basilica
The church is located in S. Pietro village, a short distance from
Casalvecchio Siculo, in the province of Messina. The site is particularly
evocative: lemon trees and Mediterranean scrub surround the church creating a
wrap of peace and silence, a magic atmosphere.
The place is easily reachable. You need to dreive along the segment of Strada
Provinciale 19 joining S.Teresa Riva and Casalvecchio Siculo and then follow the
signs towards the basilica.
History
The original building was erected around 560 a.D. to be completerly
destroyed by the Arabs during their conquest. The church was rebuilt in 1117
by the monk Gerasimo of San Pietro and Paolo, thanks to the economic support of
the Norman King Roger II.
In 1169 a tremendous earthquake seriously damaged it, but in 1172 it was
rebuilt by architect Gherardo il Franco, as witnessed by an inscription
in Ancient Greek language visible on the entrance door. The church has remained
untouched ever since, and it's now virtually intact.
S.Pietro's monks ruled a wide and rich territory devoted to farming, breeding
of cattle, production of flour, wheat by-products, wine and olive-oil, and all
the locals benefited of this richness, including the inhabitants of Casalvecchio
Siculo. The church was used as a monastery until 1794. Then, the unhealthiness
of the area - caused by the pollution of the near Agrò river from waste
of flax manufacture - forced the monks to move to Messina. 
After that, the
basilica was deserted and served only as a store-room for farmers' tools.
During those centuries of complete neglect, the church was visited only by
historians of medieval architecture both from Italy and abroad. Only after the
'60' of last century the basilica has been restored and reopened to
public worship and tourism. Several art critics and historians have written
essays on it. Among them Stefano Bottari, Pietro Lojacono, E.H. Freshfield,
Antonio Salinas, Ernest Basile and Edoardo Calandra.
Exterior and interior
As witnessed by the merlons on top and by the absence of windows, S. Pietro
Basilica was a fortress-church, as most of the coeval Norman cathedrals
in Sicily, for example in Cefalù and Monreale.
As for those more popular churches, its style is a synthesis of Byzantine, Arab
and Norman features. For example, the facade is adorned with narrow pilasters
ending in polychrome crossing arches, as the Byzantine used in coeval buildings.ves plan and the presence of two towers and a porch on the main facade.
The interior is bare and reveals the simple beauty of the medieval structure.