At the foot of Mount Pizzuta, not far from the town, stands the rural church of SS. Madonna dell’Odigitria, from 1488, the year in which the foundation chapters were stipulated. The church, according to a popular legend, was built in honor of the Virgin (whose image the Albanian refugees would have brought from Albania) who would have indicated the place where they would have to settle permanently and build their homes. In two periods of the year (the month of May and the first fortnight of August), according to an ancient tradition, many Arbëreshë go there before dawn to listen to mass. The church, with a square plan with a central altar of the century. XVIII in mixed marbles, it houses an image of the Madonna Madonna (oil on canvas) made by Novelli Padre in 1612 and a plaque, placed in the central entrance, in which the events of the settlement are briefly summarized.
Of great artistic value are also the slate paintings on which the historian Stefano Schirò recently made a study that you can learn more by clicking on the article at the foot of the page.
Salvatore Vasotti
@ visitpiana.com
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