Church Of Mary Most Holy Of The Rosary

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🎧 STAGE 5 – CHURCH OF MARIA SANTISSIMA DEL ROSARIO

We are in front of the Church of Maria Santissima del Rosario, one of Bisacquino’s spiritual and architectural jewels. Founded in 1478, it stands high above the town, in the district that, between 1400 and 1492, housed the town’s Jewish community. This historical fact adds symbolic depth to the place, a bridge between cultures and faiths.

The layout has a single nave, with a semicircular apse and a dramatic late 16th-century facade. Two mighty stone pillars mark its vertical lines, accentuated by the entrance portal and large central window. Above, towers a stone spire surmounted by a metal cross and weathervane, elements that dominate the urban skyline along historic Via XXIV Maggio.

Next to it, the quadrangular bell tower, taller than the body of the church, is composed of two superimposed orders and lends further vertical momentum to the whole. The sober and elegant interior is developed under a deep barrel vault, plastered white and decorated with gilded moldings that reflect natural light from small windows inserted between lunettes.

Between 1879 and 1924, Canon Gaspare Raja completely transformed the interior, relying on the skill of Alberto Guarino for the stucco work and Vincenzo Lopes for the decorations: six side altars, the new high altar and the balustrade were thus made, enriching the church with marble and ornaments.

In 1957, three hypogeal rooms, perhaps ancient crypts or sacred storehouses, were discovered under the floor. Another small mystery in the long history of faith and art of this place, still dear to the Bisacquinese.