THE MADONNA DELLA
NOVA SANCTUARY
It is located on the bottom of a basin, a
sort of a gully (lama) anciently used as a shelter by
savage animals (li furchi). It was built in 1561 on an
ancient crypt and presents a square façade
surmounted by trilobal archs, a splayed portal and a rosette
framed with floreal and human motifs. The interior is richly
frescoed, partly in Byzantine style; on the left wall of the
inner chamber are frescoes of St. Maria della Nova with the Holy
child in her lap, St. Bernardino from Siena, and another
undefined saint. Several images are to be seen in the crypt: The
milking Madonna, the Nikopeian Madonna, along with figures of
womanly saints, the Deesis – the scourging of Christ and his
crucifixion.
