Chiesa di Santa Maria La Porta
The Mother Church of Palo del Colle, dedicated to Santa Maria La Porta stands in the heart of the town, a symbol of a community united in faith for centuries. It dates back to the 12th century but thanks to the insistence of the Queen Bona Sforza and the donations of the townspeople, in the 1500s, work on the church gave it its current splendour. Inside and outside the church, coats of arms of the Universitas of Palo bearing the dates 1588 and 1591 respectively with the motto “Nescit Otiari Virtus” (Virtue Never Rests). Over the course of time the church has undergone various transformations: until the 1950s it had five naves, but in order to modernise the “primitive Romanic style”, the lateral naves were demolished and the 19th century clock tower was knocked down, formerly attached to the north façade of the church. Today the Puglia-Romanic style façade bears a large rose window between reliefs of the figures of Judith with the head of Holofernes and Hercules holding the head of the defeated lion.
The central door is flanked by Corinthian columns and couples of herms and in the broken pediment sits the image of Santa Maria la Porta between two kneeling angels. On the north side stands a 50-metre-high bell tower known as “Lo Spione” (The spy) in the town. Biforas, triforas and quadriforas bring light on all four sides and it terminates with a turret, loggia and checkerboard parapet. Inside the church, the central nave and the two side naves are characterised by round arches, columns with Corinthian capitals and the delicate triforas of the false matroneum. A dome opens up the presbytery while the apse is decorated with frescoes of the Trinity. In the crypt, accessible via symmetrical staircases, is the precious silver altar dedicated to the Holy Sacrament, commissioned by the confraternity and created by Neapolitan artist Francesco Avellino, in the middle of the 18th century. In a recess on the right wall are the remains of Saint Damaris, originally in the Roman catacombs. In this space, between the slender columns and cross vaults, there is a real air of antiquity. Every year on 20th June the community gathers in prayer for the Patron Saint’s festival. The statue of the Madonna della Porta, preserved inside the church, becomes the cornerstone of devotion and identity of the townspeople.