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Conca dei Marini is a town and comune in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy.
The church of Santa Maria di Grado
The Church of Santa Maria di Grado is located in Grado, the upper part of the village after which it takes its name. This church originally dates back to the 9th Century. It was destroyed by a natural disaster and was rebuilt the following century. The original building cannot be seen as the modifications made over the centuries have been so many. In 1539, the Bishop Giovanni Ferdinando Annio donated the church to the local town hall who subsequently gave it in poor condition to the Pandolfo family in the 17th century on condition that they built a monastery next door. The church is formed by a rectangular room covered by arched vaults while the outside presbitery area is covered by tiles. During the heyday of the monastery which was dedicated to Santa Rosa di Lima, the church was enlarged and embellished in a typical late baroque style. A gate covered by religious imagery leads into a narrow and long courtyard surrounded by a wall built in the 18th century to protect the Cloister. A small porch - above which a room can be found where the chairs of the nuns can still be seen - precedes the entrance. The threshold of the big door has been created re-utilising the tombstone of the Reverend Pietro Coltellino, Rector of the church in the 17th Century. The entrance is flanked by two rooms, the left hand one was the old nun's confessional. A very small space with a grate where the priest used to sit in order to let the nuns be invisible and receive the confession. The other is the small storage room and is situated underneath the bell tower. Above the door, there is the choir area surrounded by a wooden parapet covered by a gold, domed grate. On each side there are three small chapels. On the right there are the ones dedicated to the Immaculate Conception and Santa Lucia, Piety and Santa Rosa. On the left there is one dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, to San Nicola and Our Lady of the Rosary, a group of saints belonging to the Dominican Order. As demonstrated by the stuccos of the past, there should have been another two next to the entrance door. The first four altars are made of wood and repeat the motifs of the choir parapet. Unfortunately the principal altar made from gold wood has been lost. It must have been the crucial point for people entering and this was replaced with another one in marble in 1858. The flooring laid in 1750 has survived the continuous refurbishment and was the replacement of the type of lapillo flooring still present in the music school today. On the wall at the end, next to the main altar, there is still on the left a door painted with a grey band which precedes the Sacresty. On the right there is a window decorated with floral motifs and a double golden grate with a little door for the communion. This area was for the nuns only and access was from the monastery so the nuns could receive the communion without being seen. Later on, another door from the corridor to the Sacresty was opened. Above the two aforementioned openings, we can see two symmetrical golden windows for the second choir. The belltower is similar to the Amalfi Cathedral's, although of a smaller stature. On the area outside the church, there are various openings through which one can access rooms and entrances to the Monastery - that is until the monastery was stopped by the Town Hall who has remained the owner of the Church.
Images
The Conca Head, with the old watch tower
The church of Saint John the Baptist
External links
References
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