Chiesa e convento di Santa Maria del Sepolcro, Catalan Gothic church in Potenza, Italy

Santa Maria del Sepolcro stands at the end of Piazzale Aldo Moro in Potenza, built in Catalan Gothic style with a central plan and a single nave. A three-arch portico with carved stone capitals and a gabled roofline fronts the facade, whose central wooden portal, carved with floral and geometric motifs in the 1500s, sits beneath a 1658 fresco of the Deposition. A bell tower that flanked the facade was demolished in 1959.

The counts of Santasofia, lords of Rivischio, returned from the Third Crusade around 1191 and had the church built, later entrusting it to the Knights Templar. In 1312 the casale passed to Bishop Guglielmo of Potenza. Count Innico de Guevara enlarged and embellished the church in 1488 and built the adjoining convent; a Latin epigraph in the narthex records that year and a restoration in 1652.

The name has two explanations: the Guevara counts built their family tomb here in 1488, or it comes from a Templar hamlet called Santo Sepolcro nearby. A 1658 fresco of the Deposition above the wooden door carries the Latin line "O vos omnes qui transitis per viam".

Visitors should remember this is an active place of worship where respect for religious practices is important. Access may be restricted at certain times, so asking ahead or arriving in the morning is helpful.

The church stands where two Roman roads crossed, and tradition holds that Bishop Gerard of Potenza turned water from a spring here into wine. A Latin epigraph in the narthex records the 1488 rebuilding by the Guevara counts and a restoration in 1652.