San Pietro ad Oratorium Abbey
San Pietro ad Oratorium is the name of a
History and description
Chronicles suggest that some church structure might have been present by the 7th century, but the original abbey was commissioned in AD 752 by the Lombard king Desiderius and made subservient to the monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno. In 1117, the church was consecrated by Pope Pasqual II and had acquired more independence and wealth as an abbey.
The present church building was initially erected in the 12th century; of the monastery buildings little remains but ruins, in part due to abandonment and also because of recurrent floods. This partially reconstructed church has a nave, two side aisles, and three semicircular apses. There is only one entrance door with a lintel decorated with a floral motif. On the
The interior is notable for the robust stone arches that separate the naves. The main altar is underneath a domed ciborium. The walls of the central apse has a remarkable 12th-century fresco depicting Christ among the twelve disciples above a register with the Twenty-Four Elders from the Book of Revelation.[1]