Madonna del Rosario
Cent. 18th
We find ourselves below Palazzo Curci, one of the noble buildings of Via Umberto I. Between 1919 and 1965 this building became a convent for Benedictine and Olivetan nuns. In 1700, the Dominican monks built the church and the convent, now the Palo del Colle town council offices, just in front of this shrine devoted to Our Lady of the Rosary. The church conserves a painting by an unknown artist, which was most likely the inspiration for this sacred shrine. At the centre of the image is the Virgin Mary, with the baby Jesus serenely in her arms, holding out the Rosary to St. Dominic and St. Catherine, the two saints responsible for the diffusion of the cult of the Rosary.
To the left of the painting are the Joyful Mysteries, the Sorrowful Mysteries are depicted on the right, while above the painting the Glorious Mysteries celebrate the victory of Christ and the Virgin. The Virgin, wearing white and wrapped in a blue cloak, stands on a white cloud, symbol of purity and the heavens. The painting is enclosed in a brown plaster frame, decorated with a central bas relief depicting the head of a winged angel whose gaze seems to watch over the scene. Like the town’s other sacred shrines, the local women would frequently gather here to pray, recite the rosary and seek refuge in the protection of the Virgin Mary. On the first Sunday of October the brothers of the Madonna del Rosario would decorate the altar with great devotion, and people from all over the town would come to pay homage to the Virgin Mary. This shrine continues to be a place of reflection and hope, a symbol of unshakeable faith which unites generations in their devotion.