Italy


Sorrento



Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel





 

Summary The current Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was constructed in 1572 on the site of the martyrdom of a number of people in Roman times. In the 18th – century it underwent a complete restoration giving it its Baroque style.

The Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel constructed originally in the 3rd – century is believed to have been built on the site where a number of people were executed due to their Christian beliefs in Roman times.

In 1572 a new church was built to replace the original one and dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which is one of the titles under which Mary, mother of Jesus, is invoked. In the 18th- century it underwent a complete restoration giving it its Baroque style, and a convent was attached to the church.

Before 1866 the church was located just outside the city walls, which was when work was carried out on the area, and the church became part of the city center.  In 1921 it underwent additional restoration work.

The façade consists of three parts: the lower one has a large central arch, which provides the entrance to the church.

 

It was during restoration work, at this level that traces of Roman columns were found. The main arch is flanked by two small ones that allow access to the narthex (an antechamber or porch). The central level contains a window with a balustrade, this has a small window on either side. Above the main window, on the next level, is a statue of the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus. The church’s bell tower is located on the left.

 

The interior consists of a single nave and contains a ceiling which was painted ceiling by Onofrio Avellino in 1710. This depicts Mary delivering the scapular (which is part of the monastic habit worn by monks, and is composed of two large pieces of cloth, connected in the middle by narrower strips of cloth), to St. Simon and is surrounded by angels and saints.

 

The church contains several altars, with paintings above them.





Along the left side, there is a reliquary (a container for holy relics) of the 17th- century and a chapel containing two paintings, one of the Madonna at the foot of the cross with Sant'Angelo and the other San Francesco di Paola, dating from the eighteenth century.

 


The main altar has a painting of the Madonna and child in a golden frame. This is a copy of 16th-century painting and has undergone a number of restorations, the last of which took place at the end of the twentieth century.


 


To the sides of the altar are two paintings, by Giovanni Cingeri dating from 1758. On the right is the Adoration of the Magi and on the left the Adoration of the shepherds. 

 
 


In addition are four pictures depicting scenes from the life of the Madonna and a carved marble panel, dating back to the 16th- century.

Along the right side, there is a secondary entrance, a painting of the Virgin with Child and St. Albert and St. Dominic and one of the Madonna of Pompeii, both kept in small niches decorated with stuccoes. In the past these housed statues of saints, a sepulchral epigraph by Nicola Falangola and Patrizio Sorrentino, two of the main benefactors for the construction of the church, and two chapels, both with two paintings of the 18th- century, one representing the Madonna and St. Mary Magdalene and St. Andrew Corsini and the other the Beatification of St. Teresa of Avila. 


 

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