Chiesa del Purgatorio
The church, a rare example of a work commissioned by a fraternity, was built in 1670 by the Confraternita del Purgatorio (Fraternity of the Purgatory), as it is attested by the inscription on the architrave of the portal of entrance, on a piece of land granted by bishop Tommaso Acquaviva d'Aragona and consecrated in 1688 by bishop Filippo Massararghi.
The main facade, ending with a cuspidate fastigium, clearly emphasises that the church is dedicated to the souls in purgatory waiting for salvation and hoping for Virgin Mary's intercession. In the lower level, the facade is delimited by couples of pilasters of Doric order holding up a cornice with a frieze adorned with tryglyphs and metopes in which human skulls alternate with crossed bones.
The portal's entablature, is adorned with skulls of prelates and kings along with the group of sculptures representing the souls on fire on the point of being saved by angels. The wooden portal, which dates back to 1677, is delimited by pilasters of Doric order holding up the entamblature.
The facade is completed by Baroque vaults and two skeletons, one holding a hourglass and the other a sickle.
The two skeletons hold an inexorable inscription, that indicates unequivocalbly the thought of the church in the 17th century:
"QUA HORA NON PUTATIS, VENIAM ET METAM"
"QUA HORA NON PUTATIS, VENIAM ET METAM"
The church was probably designed by architect Michelangelo Costantino. The interior, consisting in a single aula (hall), is articulated by three arcades for each side. However, only four altars have remained, two of which are from the 17th century, while the other two were modernized in the 18th century. The stone altar dedicated to Christ's Heart, but previously dedicated to Saint Christopher with a fresco made by Carlo Rosa, now got lost, dates back to the 17th century. The Relics' altar, which dates back also to the same period, was built according to a classical composite scheme with Baroque vaults. The stone antependium of the high altar is also from the 17th century. Beautiful heads of putti and caryadits carved in our hard stone act as table holders. The Neoclassical style conch of the high altar is made of marbles; traces of its Baroque decoration are still visible in the scrolls and in the ciborium (canopied shrine), with an exquisite small door on which the souls in purgatory are sculpted. In the upper part of the inner facade paintings of the 17th century are placed, they are likely to come from altars, no longer existing: "San Carlo Borromeo", autographed by Nicola Gliri, the "lmmacolata", which may be attributed to AItobello, a disciple of Cesare Fracanzano and a little Christ who bears the cross, a work of an unknown author. Visitors may also admire the sacred images of Our Lady of Sorrow (18th century) and of the dead Christ (19th century) which are carried with the Holy Cross in procession along the town streets during the good Friday.
