In the heart of the historic centre of Anacapri, in Piazza Diaz, stands the church of Santa Sofia, one of the most important places of worship on the island. For centuries, the square has been the place of choice for the people of Anacapri and the beating heart of the "upstairs" municipality.
The church, taking for granted the epigraph on the façade which reads «Templum hoc divae Sophiae dicatum, anno Domini 1510», would date back to 1510, but according to some recent studies it is possible that its construction should have been moved to 1595-1596. This ambiguity is due to the fact that documents on the period of construction are materially missing from the parish archive. Net of this puzzle linked to the year of foundation, the church of Santa Sofia was built on the area where previously there was a church dedicated to San Carlo and some rooms (such as the sacristy and the oratory) were recovered from that ancient both religious and historical-artistic reality. It was thanks to the new church that the progressive population of the surrounding area began. The works ended in 1642 and at that point Santa Sofia became the new parish seat, replacing the church of Santa Maria a Costantinopoli, dating back to the 11th century.
Work on the expansion of the church began in 1685, thanks to the Congregation of the Santissima Concezione, which took care of the reorganization of some fundamental parts of the building. The intervention was completed only between the end of the seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth century. And it involved, among other things, the construction of new chapels and, above all, the extension of the central nave towards the square. At the time the façade was still missing, which was built starting in 1765, while the bell tower was completed in 1777. A few years later, precisely in 1790, the church of Santa Sofia was consecrated by the bishop of the then diocese of Capri, Nicola Saverio Gamboni. The most recent intervention followed a serious accident: in 2004 lightning struck the main dome of the church, clearly damaging it. Thanks to the people of Anacapri, the restoration work began immediately and was completed in 2008. Furthermore, a peculiarity of Santa Sofia is its domes: in addition to the largest one, there are five others, topped with as many lanterns.
The church on the outside is very elegant and immediately catches the visitor's eye with its large white silhouette dominating the square. The structure is mainly made of tuff and stone. The façade is typically Baroque, but there is also a strong presence of local taste, which curbs the typical Baroque excesses, thus creating a happy contamination between the styles. The lower part of the façade has six pilasters and three portals of which the central one is larger and more imposing than the others. The two oval windows that surmount the side portals are very interesting.
On the sides of the main portal, characterized by stucco decorations, there are two niches, which house the clay statues of Santa Sofia and Sant'Antonio. The upper part, however, has four pilasters with two volutes on the sides surmounted by agile pinnacles. The central section has a large window that gives personality to the building; above it is the cartouche that speaks of the foundation of the church. The bell tower is decorated with two clocks, one electric and one majolica, which is the oldest on the island. The three bells are dedicated to Sant'Elia, Santa Sofia and Santa Maria.
The interior of the church, divided into three naves, is in the shape of a Latin cross. The central nave has a large barrel vault. The side chapels, however, have ribbed vaults. Worth mentioning is the white Carrara and Bardiglio marble floor, a true jewel of the entire complex. Along the side naves there are chapels of various styles and sizes, testifying to the different construction periods. Among the main works, there is a 17th century wooden Crucifix, located at the end of the square-shaped apse. Remarkable, then, is the baptismal font made of polychrome marble as well as the pulpit which dominates from above.
The church of Santa Sofia is the heart of devotion to the patron saint of Anacapri, Sant'Antonio, of which it houses two statues, full-length and half-length.
