The Museo Correale di Terranova is a living evidence of Sorrento
at the turn
of the century. Alfredo e Pompeo Correale, Counts of Terranova, were two
art lovers
who left this magnificent 18th century building to the city of Sorrento.
They
gave the building which is set in a citrus grove with terraces
overlooking the sea and their entire collection to the city. The
Museum is on three floors, and strolling though the 24 rooms you feel
you
have stepped back in time into a palatial home full of art and culture.
The collection includes Neapolitan
and foreign paintings and pieces dating from the 16th to the 19th
centuries including
refined fans, glass, clocks and one of the most important collections of
18th
century porcelain. The monumental staircase and the large picture
windows have
magnificent views of the Sorrento coastline.
Taking the Via De Maio from Piazza Tasso in just five minutes you get to the
Basilica of Sant'Antonino on the square of the same name. The basilica dates back
to the 11th century and was built on a former 9th century oratory dedicated to
Saint Antonino where he had been buried after taking refuge here during the Longobard
invasion. The church has many decorative elements like the pillars which most
probably came from the numerous Roman villas in the area. On the right-hand side
of the basilica you can admire a splendid 11th century portal with a lintel on
Corinthian columns dating back to the Roman era. There are also paintings by Giovanni
Bernardo Lama and a painting of the 1648 siege of Sorrento painted by Giacomo
Del Po in 1687. The two ribs of a cetacean in the atrium recall the most famous
miracle attributed to the patron saint of Sorrento. The story goes that a whale
had swallowed a child and that the saint freed the little boy by pulling him,
safe and sound, out of the whale’s mouth.
The Church of Saints Filippo and Giacomo in Sorrento is the
cathedral and is
very ancient. It probably dates back to the time of the Longobard
occupation or even before
that, but a series of disasters including the fire which the Saracens
started
when they invaded Sorrento in 1558 left little of its original aspect.
Yet, in spite of this, Sorrento’s cathedral has many interesting and
precious
works of art. In the baptistery chapel where Torquato Tasso was
baptised in 1544 we find marble
artefacts dating back to the 10 th century and many handsome bas reliefs
(also
in marble) which are attributed to Andrea Pisano (1340). During the
Christmas
festivities you can also admire a wonderful 18 th century Neapolitan
crib.
