saint mary of pity
The majestic and solemn Church of Saint Mary of Pity and Saint John the Baptist stands in the inimitable location of Marina Grande (originally called “Saint Catholic - Santo Cattolico - Sent’cò”).
The Church was founded in 1616 by the owners of boats and felluccas.
In the atrium there is an important marble bas-relief of 1700, portraying the Virgin of Piety.
On the right, instead, inside the wall, there is the representation of the sailboat with the inscription “Ave Maris Stella”.
In this atrium, on a marble pedestal, stands the bronze statue of St. Pius from Pietrelcina.
On the side there are two plaques: one, dated 2002, in memory of those killed at sea; the other, dated 1748, put by the owners of the ships, steering in the port of Procida.
On both two sides of the central nave, there are eight marble aisles enhance the majesty of a complex adorned of volutes, stuccos and cherubs in relief.
In the apse, in a grey marble temple, adorned with friezes and volute and the inscription “S. Maria. M. Pietatis”, there is the wooden statue of Madonna of Pity (1600): in one piece, carved and valuable, with vivid and soft colours.
On the wooden altarpiece of the major altar there is the half-timbered statue of St. John the Baptiste, of the 8th century, in silver and gold wood.
In the sacristy, which presents the original seventeenth-century structure with barrel vault, there is the painting made by St. Alfonso Maria dei Liguori. He made, in the ancient Chapel of fishermen, the evening catechesis.
The bell tower, in Baroque style, has a four-quadrant clock.
This Church is situated in the centre of Marina Grande, and it is the most beautiful symbol of the ancient maritime origins of the people of Procida.
