Description
The Church of San Tommaso il Vecchio is a small Sicilian-Norman church on Via Romagnosi, just behind Corso Cavour in the center of Messina: an important Norman landmark with Byzantine features, declared a national monument.
On the outside it is a simple block of stone with the apse and the drum with its dome rising from it, pierced by four windows. Across the facade, between an oculus and blocks of lava stone, runs a Latin inscription ending with the date 1530.
Inside, a single barrel-vaulted nave leads to the square sanctuary under the dome: the dark stone moldings on a light background recall the style of Brunelleschi.
That date fooled scholars for a long time, who believed the church was from the 16th century: in fact it marks the rebuilding done to dedicate it to Saint Thomas. The church was built between 1061 and 1101, under the Great Count Roger. After religious orders were suppressed, in 1866, it was sold to private owners and used as a bakery until 1908.
On the outside it is a simple block of stone with the apse and the drum with its dome rising from it, pierced by four windows. Across the facade, between an oculus and blocks of lava stone, runs a Latin inscription ending with the date 1530.
Inside, a single barrel-vaulted nave leads to the square sanctuary under the dome: the dark stone moldings on a light background recall the style of Brunelleschi.
That date fooled scholars for a long time, who believed the church was from the 16th century: in fact it marks the rebuilding done to dedicate it to Saint Thomas. The church was built between 1061 and 1101, under the Great Count Roger. After religious orders were suppressed, in 1866, it was sold to private owners and used as a bakery until 1908.