SEE IT DIFFERENTLY
What to take with you
- Completed in 1933
- Reinforced-concrete structure in a Neo-Renaissance style
- Cathedral since 25 May 1954
Read the complete story ＋
The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Mastro is a twentieth-century building, yet its name carries a much longer history.
The parish of Santa Maria del Mastro was transferred from Gerace to Locri in December 1908, immediately after the earthquake. At first, it occupied a temporary church. A central plot was later selected within the town’s new plan, and the present building was completed in 1933 using reinforced concrete and a Neo-Renaissance architectural language.
The decisive change came on 25 May 1954. When the seat of the diocese moved from Gerace to Locri, the church was elevated to cathedral status. From then on, it was not only a parish church, but the liturgical and institutional centre of the Diocese of Locri-Gerace.
If you enter, notice how the side aisles lead towards the chapels of the Sacred Heart and Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The sanctuary ends in a rounded apse, while a dome rises over its first section without appearing above the exterior roofline. More recent work has reorganised the liturgical spaces and introduced a new programme of images.
This stop closes the contemporary route because it shows Locri assuming a central role within a wider territory. The modern town did more than inherit an ancient name. It created new functions, new places and new relationships.
From here, our journey changes scale. We leave the urban centre and travel towards Locri Epizefiri. In the archaeological park we will encounter walls, sanctuaries, neighbourhoods and museums: not a simple origin story, but an ancient city inhabited and transformed over many centuries.