Saint Mary of the Road
A Lombard Basilica in the Countryside of Matrice
(text by Franco Valente)
The Church of S. Maria della Strada in the countryside of Matrice is one of the most intriguing basilicas in Molise. This is not only due to its architecture, legends, history, and artistic expressions but also because of its mysteries.
In the 18th century, a legend circulated in Molise claiming that S. Maria della Strada was built in just one night, along with dozens of other churches, by a mythical King Bove to atone for an offense committed against a family member. The Devil is said to have helped him, but he failed to complete the work within the time imposed by the Pope. This legend has no historical basis, but some still tell it to explain the repeated image of an ox on the church’s facade, which is thought to be a sort of signature of the imagined character.
The actual history of this church, whose origins remain shrouded in mystery, is somewhat different. Dozens of scholars have tried to solve its many enigmas, and only now is a story beginning to emerge that leads us to believe that the Church of S. Maria della Strada is an extraordinary example of Lombard architecture. Having been built before the year 1000, it has miraculously survived to this day.
In 1931, Father Michele Galluppi discovered a document in Rome, later called the Montaganese Parchment, which attested to the existence of the basilica of S. Maria as early as 1039. This document was of exceptional importance, but it did not convince Evelina Jamison, an English scholar who had come to southern Italy to study Norman documents. She discovered another document in Benevento, which stated that the basilica of S. Maria della Strada was consecrated in 1148. Confident she had found the exact date of its construction, she ventured into a series of interpretations of the facade’s bas-reliefs, which she believed to be stories derived from the Chanson de geste (specifically from the Book of the Histories of Fioravante), a tradition from France.
Jamison’s authority was so strong that for over 60 years, no one questioned her interpretation of the sculptures. However, Francesco Gandolfo (in Le vie del Medioevo, Milan 2000) refuted Jamison’s interpretative theories, demonstrating that the bas-reliefs were actually representations from the Bible, with no reference to French literary traditions. The question of the church’s dating and the overall interpretation of its sculptures—many of which remained mysterious—still lingered.
Today, we are perhaps closer to a solution. By reorganizing historical information, combining the Lombard parchment discovered by Galluppi, Jamison's studies, Gandolfo's corrections, and a more in-depth analysis of the stylistic features and meanings of the bas-reliefs, we now have a much clearer picture of this distinguished monument, which rightly stands among the most important architectural achievements of medieval Europe.
To reach a comprehensible conclusion, it seems helpful to distinguish between the artistic and architectural aspects while still addressing an issue that unites both art and architecture: the distinction between works with strong ideological content and those with strong theological content.
In the twentieth year of his principality, Prince Pandolfo of Capua and his son Landolfo granted Germano Adzo and others the right to inhabit the castle of Monte Agano. The grant was issued in 1036, and in its description of the boundaries, it also mentions S. Maria de Strata.
S. Maria della Strada does not appear to be a simple repetition of a common architectural model. The perfection of the stone blocks, their arrangement in well-defined courses, and the alternation of large and small blocks following a strict construction plan suggest that its construction was carried out with a particularly complex organization of the worksite. This involved a hierarchy of functions, ranging from meticulous architectural design to the development of a series of iconographic elements and, above all, the creation of a precise iconological program.