What to see · Rende

More places of interest

• Chiesa del Ritiro

  The church of San Michele Arcangelo, which in Rende is more commonly called «del Ritiro», stands in the historic centre and belongs to the parish of Santa Maria Maggiore, in the archdiocese of Cosenza-Bisignano. Its origins go back to the Norman age, but very little remains of the original structure; the monastic complex that stood beside it has been lost, absorbed into the nearby houses. In 1638 a violent earthquake destroyed it, and it was rebuilt in different forms. In the seventeenth century it was entrusted to the Augustinian monks, who gave it the title of «Ritiro». In 1715, under the direction of Francesco Belmonte, it was restored and given the form it has today.

  What to see

  It is the only church in Rende, and one of the few in the province of Cosenza, with a Greek-cross plan. At the centre of the transept rises the dome built by Belmonte, with four statues of the cardinal virtues and a large fresco of the Rebel Angels, painted in the first half of the twentieth century by the local painter Donato Magli. Along the sides of the transept are four wooden confessionals, each surmounted by a pulpit; on the inner façade is a large Baroque choir gallery. The floor is of Mendicino tuff.

  In the apse stands the high altar of carved wood, an eighteenth-century work by Niccolò Altomare, with four paired columns, four angels and a tabernacle in the form of a small temple; on it is the Holy Family by Giuseppe Pascaletti, of 1750, and above, on the end wall, the Death of St Joseph by Cristoforo Santanna, of 1780. The altars of the transept are also by Altomare; the one on the left is dedicated to St Michael, with the statue carved by Giacomo Colombo.

  Visiting

  Opening times and the times of services should be checked with the parish of Santa Maria Maggiore. Outside, the façade is plain: what stands out is the portal with Baroque and plant motifs and, at the top, a bell gable with two bells.

  Our editors' tip

  To the right of the presbytery, in a niche, is an old statue, a fifteenth-century St James the Apostle by an unknown hand. In the sacristy, next door, the eighteenth-century wooden ceiling bears a painting of the Expulsion of the Merchants from the Temple.

Some links may earn BigItalia a commission, at no extra cost to you.