Chiesa di Sant'Agata Vergine e Martire

The Church of Sant'Agata Vergine e Martire (Saint Agatha the Virgin and Martyr) is a place of worship located in Solofra, in the hamlet of the same name in the Irpinian municipality.

Located in the main square of the town, close to the road linking it to the city centre, the religious building reflects the cult of the saint from Catania, which spread to Irpinia in the early Christian period, when Abellinum became one of the first dioceses in Italy and the centre of early Christianity. This devotion embraced a vast flat territory, identified by the name of Sant'Agata. 
The existence of the Church of Sant'Agata Vergine e Martire is attested as early as the 14th century when the hamlet of the same name belonged to the fief of Serino. It was first named curacy in 1487 and then parish in 1511. In 1626, the building took on its present structure and, over the following years, its interior was embellished at the will of the Caracciolo family, feudal lords of Sant'Agata, whose aim was to achieve an artistic level similar to that of the Collegiate Church of San Michele Arcangelo. 

Although the intention to emulate the example of the most important place of worship in Solofra proved utopian, the Church of Sant'Agata also offers its considerable contribution to the enrichment of the artistic and cultural heritage of the city of Irpinia. Today, the religious building appears in its Baroque style, with a gabled façade and a single-nave structure accompanied by a bell tower. 
The ceiling is decorated with fifteen canvases by the artist Francesco Guarini from Solofra (1611-1651), painted between 1637 and 1640 with a style that reminds of Caravaggio's work. Among the works of art that do not belong to the Guarini cycle are an ancient painting on wood from the first half of the 16th century, depicting Saint Agatha and Saint Donatus the Bishop, and an 18th century polychrome wooden statue from Colombia.

The cult of Saint Agatha still lives on in the small local community, not only thanks to the splendid Church of Sant'Agata Vergine e Martire; on 5 February, in fact, a feast dedicated to the patron saint of Solofra is celebrated, during which loaves of bread in the shape of breasts are distributed, in memory of her last martyrdom.