Santa Maria della Pietà

Kraak! In the heart of Marina Grande — known to the ancient Procidans as Sent'cò, from Santo Cattolico — stands one of the most beautiful and deeply felt churches on the island: the Church of Maria SS. della Pietà and San Giovanni Battista.

It was founded in 1616 by the owners of boats and feluccas of the Marina — the local seafarers, the men who lived by the sea and the wind every single day. A church born from the sea, for those who sailed it. Criii!

The moment you step into the atrium, history comes to meet you. On the left wall stands a marble bas-relief from 1700 depicting the Virgin of Mercy. To the right, set into the wall, is a carving of a sailing ship bearing the inscription "Ave Maris Stella" — "Hail, Star of the Sea" — an ancient prayer of seafarers. At the centre of the atrium, on a marble pedestal, stands the bronze statue of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina. And then two plaques that speak plainly: one in memory of those lost at sea, dated 2002, and one placed by the masters of ships that docked at Procida in the distant year of 1748.

Squa-squa! The interior is a triumph of art and devotion. Along the sides of the central nave stand eight marble altars, surrounded by volutes, stuccoes and cherubs in relief — a beauty that draws the eye upward and holds it there. In the apse, inside a temple of grey marble adorned with friezes and volutes and the inscription "S. Maria M. Pietatis", stands the wooden statue of the Madonna della Pietà: a single carved piece from the 1600s, in vivid yet delicate colours, precious as an anchor in the middle of a storm.

On the high altar stands a half-bust statue of Saint John the Baptist, carved in silver and gold-coloured wood, dating from the eighteenth century. In the sacristy — with its magnificent seventeenth-century barrel vault still intact — a canvas depicting Sant'Alfonso Maria de' Liguori is preserved; he held his evening catechism lessons in this very ancient fishermen's chapel. Kraak!

Outside, the Baroque bell tower with its four-faced clock has marked the time of Marina Grande for centuries. This church is more than a monument: it is the truest symbol of Procida's seafaring origins, the place where the sea and faith have met for four hundred years. Come and feel it for yourself.