concattedrale di San Bartolomeo (cathédrale de Lipari)

The conversion of the inhabitants of Lipari dates to the middle of the 3rd century AD, from which point a place of prayer has existed on the island. The first cathedral was built in the heart of the acropolis, where a Greek temple had probably existed in the classical period, but it was destroyed by the Arabs in 838.
The original centre of the city is marked by the city walls which run around the summit of the rocky spur which separates two natural harbours and which was very exposed to external attack. The economic, commercial and mercantile centre was located near the Small Harbour (Marina Piccola), where the bishop's seat was based for a brief time before it was transferred to the Citadel on account of frequent attacks. The fortuitous and undocumented recovery of a lead sarcophagus containing the remains of Bartholomew the Apostle allegedly dates to the time of Bishop Agathon Martyr, who interred the remains in a chapel which was initially called "San Bartolomeo extra moenia" and subsequently "Sant' Agatone extra moenia". In this church outside the walls, near the tomb of the Apostle was the sepulchre of Agathon and his successors. Repeated attacks on this area, which accompanied the decline of Roman power in the Mediterranean, led to the construction of a church in a more secure location. The new cathedral was built over the foundations of a pre-existing Greek temple within the fortified upper citadel. The cathedral was destroyed between 836 and 837, when the archipelago was attacked by the army of al-Fadl ibn Yaqub and then by Abu'l-Aghlab Ibrahim ibn Abdallah ibn al-Aghlab, cousin of the Emir Ziyadat Allah. These attacks induced the Lombard Sicard of Benevento to take the relics of Bartholomew away to Benevento for safekeeping.
Reconstruction came only under…

The spectacular facade is approached by means of a magnificent staircase which slowly reveals the proportions of the complex. The church can also be accessed from the Portra Carraia road in the citadel, but this route is more interesting for the views which it offers of the citadel. The facade has two small side entrances and a central marble portal with Ionic columns surmounted by Corinthian capitals which frame the entrance and support the architrave with a tympanum flanked by two curled volutes. The architrave above the main entrance bears the inscription DIVO BARTOLOMEO DICATUM ("consecrated to the divine Bartholomew). The two side tympana are richly carved and decorated. The side entrances are surmounted by stained glass windows with cornices and an arch above them. In the centre is a niche with a semi-circular conch design, symbolising pilgrimage, which contains a statue of the saint. Above it is another stained glass window with its own tympanum. Four columnar pilasters surmounted by capitals and moulding give a vertical dimension to the appearance and support the upper cornice with its grand central arch.
The upper part of the facade consists of a succession of levels of rectangular blocks of decreasing size, linked to curved volutes at the base of the first and second levels and with volutes in the remaining, upper levels separated by variegated moulding. On the contraforti of the first two levels there are, respectively, vases and truncated pyramidal obelisks. Inside the pediment of the first level (which is framed by pilasters) is the crowned coat of arms with the motto DIVO BARTOLOMEO DICATUM. Inside the second level there is a series of concentric cornices and in the top level there is an inscription reading 1861 - the date of the reconstruction of the…

The central nave was initially covered by a trussed wooden ceiling, then with barrel vaults, and then with a series of groin vaults painted with high-quality frescos of biblical scenes.

In the quarters of the first vault there are "Science and the Arts," "Samson and Delilah," "Yael and Sisera" and "Judith and Holofernes."
In the second vault: "The worship of the Golden Calf", "Aaron and the water from the rock," "Moses and the Parting of the Red Sea," and "Manna in the desert."
In the third vault: "The receipt of the Ten Commandments", "The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden, "The Deluge," and "The Binding of Isaac".
On the triumphal arch at the centre there is a splendid coat of arms in stucco, between figures and angels, with cardinal decorations and gilt decorations.

The thumbs of St Bartholomew: After Barbarossa sacked the church in 1544, the sacred relics were taken away to Asia Minor. A Spanish merchant acquired them and returned them to Lipari.
"Il Vascello" ("the vessel"), or in the local dialect ("U Vascidduzzu"), is a masterpiece of silverwork by Perricone-Marano of Palermo containing 30 kg of silver and 2 kg of gold.
According to the oral tradition, this commemorates in occasion after a terrible famine in 1672, when Lipari was struck by a storm, and French vessel agreed to bring some grain and donate the load to the islanders for free.
The archbishop Angelo Paino commissioned the reproduction of the providential vessel in honour of the event two centuries later. Inside it is a fragment of St Bartholomew's skin.