The church of the Body of Christ, located in the center of Moschiano, today a parish church, was originally built as a municipal church and has always been for centuries. This was acknowledged in the text of a walled plaque near the arch of the main altar which unfortunately does not exist today.

Perhaps lost due to neglect following the restoration of the church, but the epigraphic text is remembered which read as follows: <This municipal church of the S.S. Body of Christ……:.has always been and is considered exempt and free from all parish rights as per the decree of the Bisinianense Council of 6 October 1640 and the Royal Rescript of the year 1851, deposited with the Notary Giambattista Fortino belonging to the Notary Council of Land of Work.> The church, probably built in the early 1500s, was restored in 1848. On the main altar there is a canvas: the Communion of the Apostles, a copy of the original by G.B. Pittoni executed by Gennaro Martorano in 1845.*

The Church was already equipped with paintings brought for restoration following the 1980 earthquake and not yet returned: This is the canvas of the Annunziata, perhaps from the end of the 16th century**; The transfiguration, a canvas in the center of the ceiling, a recent work by the painter Domenico Pennino, the canvas of the altar of the Souls of Purgatory**.  But the work of this church that can be admired for its antiquity and its classic grandeur is the main door from 1592 recently (2006) restored by the Polish sculptor Zenon Blysz. Wooden sculpture with decorations and images in relief. It is made up of six square panels, four of which depict Christ of the Passion, the Risen Christ, St. Peter, St. Paul, two with Eucharistic symbols: It summarizes the mysteries of faith and the foundations of the doctrine of Christianity.

The name of the sculptor is unknown, but it cannot be ruled out that they may have been artists from the area where historical tradition has handed down the presence of excellent wood sculptors.

Also in the same church is a wooden sculpture of the Madonna della Carità on a pedestal with engravings of scenes from the Sanctuary, a recent work by the Moschiano artisans Maestro Gaspare Dalia and Gaetano Russo.

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Prof Pasquale Moschiano

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Additional Notes:

* This sentence does not appear in Prof Moschiano's original writing as at the time the canvas was still under "restoration". In reality this canvas has never been restored and was found by chance in 2018 by two spouses from Moschiano (Lilla and Salvatore Mazzocca) in Altavilla Irpina and brought back to Moschiano thanks to the interest of the parish priest Don Domenico Iovino.

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** The canvas of the Annunziata and that of the altar of the Souls of Purgatory have returned. The canvas of the "souls of Purgatory" has returned to its place while the canvas of the Annunziata has been placed to the left of the main altar where Once upon a time there was a canvas depicting "the Deposition" which was stolen in the 1970s. On the altar which belonged to the canvas of the Annunciation, the new wooden statue of the Madonna della Carita was placed. The canvas of the Transfiguration is still under restoration.

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The main altar dates back to 1735 and is the work of Matteo Bottigliero (1684-1757) whose "Guglia dell'Immacolata" in Piazza del Gesu' Nuovo in Naples is remembered among other things.

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