Musée st.Sebastian or st. Augustine church

The Church of Saint Augustine is a comprehensive testament to the history of Caserta prior to the construction of the Royal Palace. Above all, it demonstrates how the Bourbon era almost completely overshadowed the city's earlier history, which instead emerges powerfully here thanks to the surviving artworks created from the Middle Ages to the Baroque period.

The religious order of the Hermits of Saint Augustine was founded in 1244 and, in 1256, incorporated earlier monastic communities that followed the "Rule" written around 391 AD by the famous saint and Doctor of the Church, Augustine of Hippo. Charity, poverty, prayer, meditation, chastity, and the sharing of goods aligned it closely with the Franciscans and Dominicans.

The presence of the Augustinian Hermits in Caserta dates back to before 1295; in 1333–1334, the monastery was granted a privilege for the grain trade.

[text, and photographs: Pietro Di Lorenzo, associazione culturale "Francesco Durante", Caserta, 2026]

[music: Philippe de Vitry (Paris, 1291 – Paris, 1361) Flos ortus / Celsa inter lilia / quam magnus pontifex , motetto per san Ludovico Anjou, 1317, Ivrea, Biblioteca Capitolare MS CXV (115), Gruppo vocale e strumentale "Ave gratia plena", liverecording 2025] www.assodur.altervista.org