Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: reliquary cross

Napoli is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy. Its metropolitan area has a population of more than 3 million. Founded by Greek settlers before 900 BC, Napoli was an important part of Magna Graecia and played a major role in the merging of Greek and Roman society. Following the decline of the Western Roman Empire Napoli was shortly ruled by the Ostrogoths. Byzantine troops captured the city in 536m but after the Byzantine exarchate Ravenna fell a Duchy of Naples was created. Over centuries the Duchy´s relations to Rome or Byzanz were hard-fought. In 836 Napoli could repel a siege of Lombard troops with the help of the Saracens, what did not prevent Muhammad I Abu 'l-Abbas in the 850s loot Napoli. In the 11th century, the Duchy hired Norman mercenaries and about 1140 it came under Norman control under Roger II, then King of Sicily. In 1228 Emperor Frederick II founded the first university in Europe here, making Napoli the intellectual centre of the kingdom. The conflict between the House of Hohenstaufen and the Papacy led in 1266 to Pope Innocent IV crowning the Angevin duke Charles I King of Sicily. Charles officially moved the capital from Palermo to Napoli. In 1282 after the "Sicilian Vespers", a successful rebellion on the island of Sicily against the rule of King Charles I, the Kingdom of Sicily was divided into two. The Angevin Kingdom of Naples included the southern part of the Italian peninsula, while the island of Sicily became the Aragonese Kingdom of Sicily. By the 17th century, Naples had become Europe's second-largest city – second only to Paris – with around 250000 inhabitants. The "Complesso Monumentale Donnaregina" consists of two churches. The younger "Donnaregina Nuova" from the 17th century and the "Donnaregina Vecchia" from the 14th century. Today the complex houses the "Museo Diocesano". The reliquary cross, known as the "Reliquary Cross of St. Leontius", holds a fragment of the Holy Cross.

The history of Gerace is closely linked to that of Locri at the coast, as the inhabitants abandoned Locri and fled from a Saracen attack and piratical dangers. They settled inland, where is Gerace now. The Locrian diocese was moved to Gerace and the innumerable presence of churches and monasteries helped to identify the fortress as a kind of Holy Mount. Because of its particular position, however, Gerace soon became a center of exceptional importance. The possibility of controlling coastal traffic, and the natural fortification, meant that it became the object of attention of the Byzantine Empire and the Kingdom of Sicily. In 986 the Saracens briefly conquered the city, but it returned to Byzantine control until the Norman conquest in 1059. Gerace was the seat of a principality under the Normans. The "basilica concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta di Gerace" is one of the largest sacred buildings in the region. The construction was started in the Norman period, with a projecting transept that reflects the Norman customs. The church was consecrated for worship in 1045. In the Swabian period, in 1222, a second consecration took place. The building was hit by several earthquakes over the centuries, which led to a number of significant changes. The interior of the basilical church has three large naves, which make up the longest arm of a Latin cross. They are separated by two rows of ten columns, made of polychrome marble and granite, all varying in quality and size. The columns come from the villas of the marina of ancient Pagliopoli/Locri, while the capitals are partly ancient and partly remade. In the crypt there is a small museum. This reliquary cross was made in the 12th century by a Jerusalemite workshop. It is a "stauroteka" as it contains a splinter of the "True Cross".