S. Antonio Abate

The Church of S. Antonio Abate presents an instructive study in stone. The entire structural envelope is composed of continuous masonry walls, built from calcarenite blocks and rubble. This local limestone defines the outer shell, with a further wall separating the nave from the exonarthex, or outer narthex. This interior wall incorporates, in its upper part, the arch that connects the choir loft to the main space.

The principal façade is the only wall constructed entirely from squared ashlar blocks of calcarenite. It sits on a slightly skewed alignment, not quite orthogonal to the church's long axis, causing a curious variation in thickness between its southern and northern ends, a distortion accentuated by the curve of the western side facing the exonarthex. The northern and southern boundary walls of both nave and exonarthex are rougher affairs, of irregular blocks mixed with unshaped rubble, save for the sections facing the exonarthex and the bases of the nave’s pilasters, which are neatly squared. The wall dividing nave from exonarthex mirrors this hybrid character: squared elements frame the portal, while irregular blocks fill the rest. The stonework of the bell-tower stairwell, abutting the southern nave wall, is similarly irregular, though its connection point features large, squared stone blocks.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.