Remembering Moschiano, thoughts inevitably turn to the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Carità: a place of memories, traditions, art on that hill facing west with its gaze looking out over the Vallo. That sanctuary, with its large hall for pilgrims, commissioned by the parish priest Don Salvatore Pierro, is the pride of the town.

Venerated for centuries, at least since the first decades of the 1300s as shown in the list "Rationes decimarum Italiae which reads<<Presbyter Petrus Jovine pro ecclesia S.Mariae Caritatis >>(1308-1310).

It is known that a simple chapel originally arose, perhaps on the ruins of some aedicule erected by the villagers for the veneration of a rural pagan idol.

It later became the church of the Madonna della Carità, a title that derives from an ancient legend that tells of the Madonna who appeared to a shepherdess to whom she gave a loaf of bread.

In every era the people of Moschiane have always lavished their care on that church to the point of making it the Sanctuary that can be admired today.

Meanwhile, the cult of the Madonna grew, in whose image a rustic mother with a pious and serene look was depicted, who soon became the Queen of the Mountains. The spread of so much devotion which now went beyond the populations of the Vallo and the continuous visits of the faithful to the Sanctuary induced the clergy and the population of the town to propose the cause of the Coronation of the Simulacrum of the Madonna della Carità.

In fact, once the ritual formalities had been fulfilled, the Vatican Chapter approved the request for the Coronation solemnly celebrated on 14 June 1886.

For the occasion, the people of Moschiano offered their Madonna a gold crown set with precious stones.

The Sanctuary was adorned with a white stone façade with a wooden portal where the scenes of the Madonna appearing to the shepherdess and the procession ascending to the sanctuary stand out carved in relief.

Work of two artisans from Moschiano Domenico and Alberico Dalia, father and son under the direction of the wood sculptor Corrado Mastropasqua from Nola, work inaugurated on 11 April 1909.

In 1928 Prof. Salvatore Caliendo, a painter from Castello di Palma (NA), renewed the face of the statue of the Madonna which had been disfigured following a fire. He designed the throne consisting of a small temple in which the niche of the Madonna is framed. The ceiling canvas by the painter Arneri painted around 1920, depicts Modonna in glory and a group of devotees, commoners of the time, with their parish priest, the other smaller one describes the Madonna appearing to the shepherdess.

Another canvas on the altar of S. Michele dedicated to the Archangel. Other paintings on the walls of the church are of more recent date; executed by the painter Fabio Niola from Marzano di Nola (AV): the Calvary, The Wedding at Cana, The return of the prodigal son; the paintings in the presbytery depict angels offering symbolic gifts to the virgin, the rose, the palm, the crown symbol of her royalty.

In 1986 the first centenary of the Coronation was solemnly celebrated, two plaques facing each other on the walls of the church commemorate the events, those from 1886-1986. And how many other memories around that temple!

Going up the hill you come across the Cappelluccia in the shape of a small temple which houses under its vault a large stone resembling a seat on which, in the pious imagination of ancient and simple populations, the Madonna was believed to have sat there.

Whether legend or myth, the Cappelluccia and its stone, called "o'settaturo ra Maronna" are still remembered and admired with devotion!

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Prof. Pasquale Moschiano

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For a more detailed description of the history of the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Carita we refer to two works by Prof Pasquale Moschiano.

The first is  - The Sanctuary of the Madonna della Carita' -

Anselmi Institute Printing School - Marigliano - 1972

The other is instead "The Sacred Mountains of Vallo di Lauro -

By the Fonte Nova Cultural Association Vocali Editrice - 2015

For the latter we report the pages dedicated to the Sanctuary by clicking here 

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