In 1616, the boat and felucca owners of Procida, organized under the Pio Monte dei Marinai, petitioned the viceroy Duke of Osuna to construct a church dedicated to Santa Maria della Pietà. Completed three years later in 1619, the building was expanded in the late 17th century and again around 1760, when the original structure was incorporated into the sacristy. Today, the Church of Santa Maria della Pietà e San Giovanni Battista stands on Piazza Marina Grande.
What to see
The interior consists of a single barrel-vaulted nave flanked by two shallow chapels on each side, a transept, and an apse. Above the transept, a dome rises on a slender drum decorated with 18th-century stuccos on its pendentives. The transept features inlaid marble altars with two 1722 paintings by Antonio Fumo, depicting the Virgin of Graces with Saints Francis of Paola and Leonard on the left, and Our Lady of Mount Carmel with Saints Andrew, Catherine of Alexandria, and Margaret on the right. Among the side chapels, the Chapel of Saint Nicholas stands out for its marble and breccia work, housing a 19th-century papier-mâché statue of the saint. On the left wall of the nave sits a walnut burl pulpit crafted in 1744–1745 by cabinetmaker Agostino Fucito to drawings by Giovanni del Gaizo. Above the entrance, a late 18th-century choir balcony decorated with gilded leaf motifs holds a coeval organ, while the nave displays a canvas of the Pietà by Domenico Guarino. The apse contains the main altar carved around 1766 by Antonio Di Lucca, surmounted by a shrine holding an 18th-century polychrome wooden Pietà sculpture group.
Visiting
Located on Piazza Marina Grande, the church, along with its sacristy and adjoining rooms, holds various paintings, wooden sculptures, and furnishings dating from the 16th to the 20th century.
Our editors' tip
Examine the walnut burl pulpit along the left wall of the nave to admire the craftsmanship executed by Agostino Fucito from Giovanni del Gaizo's original drawings.