The lacunar was decorated with gold and its function was to cover the wood beams and at the same time to give church a richer and more sumptuous appearance. In its middle there is an oil on canvas from 1699 where is depicted San Michele who drives away the devil. This painting has been for a long time the subject of a critical examination, because it is signed with the initials "L.G.", which some interpreted as the signature by the famous Neapolitan painter Luca Giordano. But now there is no doubt about the attribution, since they have been recovered the documents who state the payment of the painting to the painter Luigi Garzi from Rome, who was a good painter even if not so famous as Giordano, but renown and appreciated at his times. A huge quantity of gold was used to decorate the ceiling panels; they were prepared by some among the craftsmen much demanded in Naples, such a demonstration of the importance reached by the Abbey of Procida.

The hemispherical dome of the church, clearly of Byzantine style, is based on a high drum, resting on four round arches, carried by square pilasters. On the tambour base there are some high and narrow windows, which give a good lighting to the interior. Nowadays the dome is whitewashed, but it was originally painted in frescos by a local painter of the 17th century, by whom they remain only the figures of the Four Evangelists on the pendentives, which were repainted in the 19th century. According to the sources, the frescos of the dome (which were the pride of the abbots) depicted the Virgin Mary crowned among the Angels and the Blessed. The tambour was instead painted with the scenes of the Mysteries, allegorical portrayals of catholic dogmas. The dome was struck by lightning in 1836 and the frescos cracked in such a way as it was not possible to restore them, so they were definitively removed.  [ More...]