Complesso monumentale della Badia di Cava dei Tirreni

The Abbey, declared a National Monument, was one of the most important religious and cultural centres in southern Italy in the Middle Ages. It was founded by St. Alferio Pappacarbone, who in 1011, after having retired to the Selano valley, under the great cave of Arsiccia, to lead a hermit's life, was induced by the influx of disciples to build a modest monastery with a small church attached.

Enlarged and transformed into a multi-nave basilica during the reign of Abbot Peter (1079-1123), the abbey went beyond the local sphere and became the head of a vast monastic community (Ordo Cavensisis). In 1394, Pope Bonificace IX made it a bishopric, placing it at the head of a diocese. The present basilica was built in 1761 on the initiative of the Abbot D. Giulio De Palma and to a design by the architect. Giovanni del Gaizo.

The interior is bright and harmonious, especially after the modern covering of the walls and floors with polychrome marble.
Of the old basilica, apart from the 12th century marble Cosmatesque ambo, there are two chapels with valuable sculptures on the altars by Tino da Camaino, commissioned by the abbot and royal councillor Filippo de Haya. On the altar of the second chapel, on the right, there are two groups of devout women and Roman soldiers at the foot of the cross.

Immediately after the balustrade, there are four marble statues on the walls, among which the 16th-century statues of St. Felicita and St. Matthew stand out. Continuing, on the right is the cave cell of St. Alphonsus with the urn containing his relics, on the left the altar of St. Leo with his urn and on the wall other relics of saints. The frescoes in the basilica are the work of the Calabrian painter Vincenzo Morani, who in 1857 painted on the choir vault "St. Alferio contemplating the Holy Trinity"; on the dome a vision of the Apocalypse; in the transept on the right the "Death of St. Benedict"; on the left the "Resurrection" with prophets and apostles. Under the 12 altars of the basilica are the relics of the 12 holy abbots.