Santuario Madonna SS delle Grazie

Place of meditation and Christian prayer.

The main façade, as you can directly admire today after the Restoration finished in May 2018, is small but harmonious, divided into two parts, punctuated by vertical pilasters, on which a triangular tympanum is placed, crowned by a swirled gable and cross. In the lower area there is the entrance portal carved in granite flanked by two elegant swirls and surmounted by a lintel and a gable with two swirls of dolphin tail and elegantly carved in Calabrian baroque style. The upper part is enriched in the middle by an octagonal window. Another door with frame and architrave in granite stone is located in the side entrance of the church. During the restoration of the main façade, the two side niches that have been brought to light have now emerged, while the traces of the windows have been found in the side wall, which can be read in undercut. The interior of the sanctuary has that elegant simplicity with which they were designed by the famous Palermo plasterer Onofrio Buscemi who signed them on the basis of the high reliefs depicting the apostles Peter and Paul respectively in 1747. Placed in the apse to remember that the primitive place of worship built on the banks of the river Zirgone was dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, later supplanted by devotion to the virgin Mary of Grace. As proof of this, the two small alabaster high-reliefs dedicated to the owners of the ancient extra-moenia church are still visible above the stoupers in the hall. The hall is marked by the succession of Corinthian pilasters alternating with round arches on which a classical architrave runs continuously, from which the decorated barrel vault also originates. The Holy Arch, elegant and majestic even in its small size, is enriched by the large central cartouche where stands the monogram of Maria Santissima supported by two angels in stucco all round hovering in flight, the one on the right effigiato while making the trumpet of fame ring , the left one in the act of wielding the palm, symbol of martyrdom and glory. The shield squashed but wisely distributed on the extrados of the arch bears the letters that make up the name of Mary, surmounted by a crown, while below it is clearly read a heart and finally brought to light because covered by false paintings, the face of a grotesque similar to an apotropaic mask. The Holy arch then opens the perspective of the apse in which the marvelous canopy supported by a crown stands where the miraculous image of the Virgin stolen years ago was placed and today replaced by a copy. On either side of the gable, two large four-lobed lozenges frame the high reliefs depicting St. Peter with the keys in his hand and the tiara beside, and St. Paul with the sword and the poisonous snake. a calcarenite floor, a material that contains (and are clearly visible), traces of fossils and bones typical of this material. SOURCE: Arch. Caterina AGOSTINO_ Roccella Jonica

Place of worship, but also of peace and tranquility

Gorgeous, lovely place.

Wonderful