Page 16 - SAINT HADRIAN’S CHURCH

Adriano Mazziotti

Under the third arch, among the two Norman pillars,
perhaps there is the most beautiful mosaic: a snake that
wraps itself in three tight spirals towards the center, with
its mouth wide open and the
black head from which a
horn emerges. An allegory of
Christ, as the historian of
religions Mircea Eliade
recalls? “The copper serpent
that Moses placed on a pole
became the foreshadowing of the
Saviour’s death and
redemption”.

Does the number three of its spires allude to the three days
Christ spent in the tomb as a dead? Does it imply the Holy
Trinity or perhaps the triple immersion practiced in the
eastern rite baptism?

At the center of the floor there is placed a
feline (a wild cat or a lion) depicted in
profile, with its head turned towards the
viewer.

The fourth and final mosaic is on the right, under the third
arch: a striking
snake wrapped
in its coils to
form a sort of
eight with its
tail. Even this
mosaic raises a
question: why the shape of an eight? According to the

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