Il Seminario Arcivescovile was founded by Archbishop Gaspare Cervantes in compliance with a provision of the Council of Trent (1543 -1563), in which he had participated, that required every Diocese to establish a college where young men determined to begin the priestly life could be formed.
The building of the Seminario Arcivescovile was therefore expanded by his successor, Antonio I Colonna, in 1570 and subsequently modified again. In 1731, under the Archbishop of Capua, the structure was completely rebuilt and connected to the Cathedral by a staircase and finally took on a strictly neoclassical appearance in 1832, when Archbishop Lupoli added a second floor and transformed the entire main facade.
With Archbishop Mons. Marino Paglia (1835-1857), who initiated renovation works (construction of the marble altar in the chapel; refurbishment of the grand staircase; creation of large iron windows in the corridors overlooking the dormitories; frescoes with figures of saints and wise men in the atrium), the fame achieved by the Seminary of Salerno, as a place of scientific and literary scholarship, was such that it was considered one of the best institutions in the Kingdom. For this reason, it was visited by Giacomo Leopardi in 1836, by Pope Pius IX and by the King of Naples Ferdinand II in 1849.
The earthquake of November 23, 1980 caused considerable damage to the building’s structures, making it necessary, after more than four centuries, to completely and definitively transfer the seminarians to a recently built complex.
Information about the Archiepiscopal Seminary of Salerno
Largo Plebiscito, 10
84125 Salerno (Salerno)
089239126
museodiocesanosalerno@virgilio.it
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